Community cats & TNR

What are community cats?

What is Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)?

Is TNR effecve?

Which municipalies have TNR programs?

More than 600 cies and counes have instuted TNR programs or policies,including almost every major city in the U.S., for example, Chicago, Fort Worth,Washington, D.C., Jacksonville, San Francisco, and St. Louis. More and more cies and counes adopt TNR every year because trapping-and-killing, the tradional approach to community cats, has been used for decadeswithout success. Years of failure and common sense makes it clear that TNR is thebebest choice for local governments.

TNR is the only effecve method of community cat management. No other methodhas permanently reduced the community cat populaon. Lethal control has failedbecause it only temporarily reduces the number of cats in a specific area. Animalcontrol officers must connually trap and kill the new cats year aer year, creanga cruel cycle where cats are trapped and killed at great cost to taxpayers with nodecrease in the populaon.

TNR is a community cat management pracce where community cats are humanelytrapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies, and earpped (to idenfya cat has been neutered and vaccinated).

“The cost for picking up and simply euthanizing and disposing of animals ishorrendous, in both the philosophical and the economic sense.”

- Mark Kumpf, Former President of the Naonal Animal Control Associaon

Community cats are unowned or semi-owned cats living outdoors. Some cats arefriendly while others are feral.Feral cats are the same species as pet cats, but they are frightened of people andavoid human contact. Feral cats cannot be adopted into homes as pets.