Trap-Neuter-Return
Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is practiced by the Feral Cat Assistance Program
Trap-Neuter-Return is an humane approach to population control of feral cats. The cat is trapped in a humane live trap, sterilized and vaccinated, and then returned to its home where it is fed and monitored by a caregiver.
TNR Works
Information on how well TNR works is beginning to
accumulate. The Stanford University Cat Network reduced its
feral population from 1000-1500 cats to 300 cats over a ten-year
period. The Southern Animal Foundation in Louisiana reduced
one New Orleans population from 500 to 65 over three years,
through TNR and adoptions.
TNR is the compassionate approach/solution to feral and stray cat overpopulation
TNR teaches compassion and responsible cat care. While TNR actually reduces the number of cats breeding, it also opens the door to educating people about the importance of spaying and the plight of feral and stray cats.
Trapping and killing does not solve the problem
Trapping and killing has been practiced for many years and it does not work. For all the years this approach was practiced, the cat population continued to explode.
New cats replace those cats removed
Cats tend to congregate around a food source. When cats are trapped and removed from an area, new cats move in to take advantage of the food source. Alley Cat Allies, a national feral cat network, calls this phenomenon "the vacuum effect."
Eradication is more expensive than TNR
Trapping and killing cats is a tax payer burden. It costs on average $75 to $100 for an animal control agency to trap, house, kill, and dispose of one cat. It costs a program like Feral Cat Assistance Program $25 to spay or neuter one cat.
Caregivers support TNR
Thousands of kind people feed and care for feral and stray cats. Most will not allow the cats they feed to be trapped and killed, but welcome the opportunity to have the cats trapped, neutered and returned. If their only choice is to have the cats killed, they will opt to do nothing and the cats will breed - adding to the overpopulation problem.
Society does not support trapping and killing
When communities have tried to implement mass trapping and killing efforts, the community outcry has stopped the effort.
TNR helps reduce the number of cats euthanized at shelters
When fewer kittens are born to feral and stray cats, fewer cats and kittens enter shelters. This means fewer are killed because there aren't enough homes for all the cats who need them, and fewer are deemed unadoptable because they are wild (untamed). Fewer cats competing for adoptive homes means more find a home and fewer are therefore euthanized.