Free Roaming Cat Task Force Draft Report

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DRAFT of pets and the overwhelming benefit of spay/neuter and environment enrichment. •Our animal services staff are already posting flyers and door hangers in areas where free roaming cats are centered for low cost spay neuter programs. •Our shelter staff can include information in the adoption information that goes home with each adopted pet that targets the benefits of keeping cats indoors, demonstrates how to enrich their inside environment, and the benefits of identification of pets adopted. In addition we will encourage other community participation by: • Setting up a volunteer core for public participation, i.e. a grassroots outreach to reach community members about spay/neuter possibilities, identification, and public health issues. •OCAS will set up programs to train caregivers in safety, trapping and handling of cats, the importance of spay/neuter of colonies and building caretaker trust in Animal Services as part of the team building process. Triangle wide we would like to join with other Animal Service agencies in an advertising campaign (billboards, social media, door to door community saturation) to encourage spay/neuter, vaccinations and identification of cats as well as educating people about how to enrich the environment inside their homes to be more satisfying to the cat. •Targeted Spay Neuter As long as cats are outside and reproductively active, there will continue to be a surplus of cats. There are several programs already in place that we can build on to spread the word and make low cost and no cost spay neuter opportunities available. •Animal Kind has been operation in Orange County since (insert date) and has provided DHHS qualified clients with over 400 spay neuter surgeries each year at the lost cost of $20 or free. •Independent Animal Rescue works with apartment communities and neighborhoods to identify problem cat areas and offers targeted spay neuter and the foster for feral program to allow kittens that may have stayed on the street to have the opportunity to be tamed and adopted. •We will address how to keep up with the identity, reproductive capability, and vaccination status of cats within the colony of feral free roamers. •The SNAP mobile spay neuter clinic is already in operation. We can direct more citizens to that opportunity and also present underprivileged citizens with Litter Patrol and other vouchers for subsidized spay/neuter opportunities. 4