[wisb] news about birds and feral cats
- From: "William Mueller" <iltlawas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "wisbirdn" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2009 05:46:40 -0600
Many communities have unwisely adopted TNR (trap-nueter-release, or
trap-nueter-return) programs for feral cats.
In Los Angeles, a court is requiring an environmental review before a
program of this type this can go continue:
Superior Court Orders City of Los Angeles To Stop Controversial Feral Cat
Program Pending Environmental Review
Conservation groups win suit to force city to conduct required
environmental review of feral cat program
Six conservation groups won a lawsuit on Friday against the City of Los
Angeles and its Department of Animal Services to stop the practice of
encouraging feral cat colonies until the legally required environmental
impact reviews are performed.
The Los Angeles Superior Court found that the City of Los Angeles had been
?secretly and unofficially? promoting ?Trap-Neuter-Return,? a controversial
program to allow feral cats to run free, even while the Department of
Animal Services promised to conduct an environmental review of the program.
The Court ordered the City to stop implementing TNR.
The plaintiffs, The Urban Wildlands Group, Endangered Habitats League, Los
Angeles Audubon Society, Palos Verdes/South Bay Audubon Society, Santa
Monica Bay Audubon Society, and the American Bird Conservancy, sued the
City in June 2008 to ensure that the controversial program to sanction and
maintain feral cat colonies was not implemented before a full and public
environmental analysis.
The groups decided legal action was necessary after their investigation
revealed that the City had been unofficially implementing a so-called
?Trap-Neuter-Return? program and the City repeatedly declined their request
to stop implementing the program until environmental review was performed.
Although the City insisted that no such program existed, the Court
concurred with the conservation groups and concluded in its Friday ruling
that, ?implementation of the program is pervasive, albeit ?informal and
unspoken.??
?Our goal was to see that the City follows the California Environmental
Quality Act by thoroughly assessing the program?s impacts on the
environment and considering alternatives and mitigation measures before
making specific programmatic decisions,? said Babak Naficy, attorney for
plaintiffs.
?Feral cats have a range of impacts to wildlife, human health, and water
quality in our cities. The impacts of institutionalizing the maintenance
of feral cat colonies through TNR should be discussed in an open, public
process before any such program is implemented,? Naficy said.
In June 2005, the Los Angeles Board of Animal Services Commissioners
adopted TNR as the ?preferred method of dealing with feral cat populations
as its official policy.? Thereafter, the Board directed the General
Manager to prepare an analysis of the program under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
This analysis was never completed but the Department implemented major
portions of the program anyway.
The Department issued coupons for free or discounted spay/neuter procedures
for feral cats being returned to neighborhoods and open spaces, including
parks and wildlife areas. It also began refusing to accept trapped feral
cats or to issue permits to residents to trap feral cats.
The Department assisted outside organizations that performed TNR by
donating public space, advertising their services, and referring the public
to their TNR programs. The Department even encouraged and assisted in
establishing new feral cat colonies at City-owned properties.
The Superior Court recognized these actions as illegal implementation of
the TNR program that could have an impact on the environment and enjoined
the City from further pursuing the program until it complied with CEQA.
Dr. Travis Longcore, Science Director of The Urban Wildlands Group, said,
?Feral cats are documented predators of native wildlife. We support
spaying and neutering all cats in Los Angeles, which is the law, but do not
support release of this non-native predator into our open spaces and
neighborhoods where they kill birds and other wildlife.?
Even when fed by humans, cats instinctively hunt prey, including birds,
lizards and small mammals. Colonies of feral cats, often thriving with the
aid of handouts from humans, harm native wildlife and contaminate water
bodies with fecal bacteria.
Longcore continued, ?TNR is promoted as a way to reduce feral cat
populations but scientific research shows that 70?90% of cats must be
sterilized for cat populations to decline. This is virtually impossible to
achieve in practice, but population reduction can be achieved with only 50%
removal.?
The City must now stop its TNR program and any further proposal to
implement such a program must undergo objective scientific review as part
of the CEQA process. This will ensure that the public has adequate
opportunity to comment and that significant impacts on parks, wildlife,
water quality, and human health are avoided.
For further information about Trap-Neuter-Return see:
Longcore, T., C. Rich, and L. M. Sullivan. 2009. Critical assessment of
claims regarding management of feral cats by trap?neuter?return.
Conservation Biology 23(4):887?894.
http://www.ca.audubon.org/chapter_assets/Longcoreetal2009ConBio.pdf
Williams, T. 2009. Felines fatales. Audubon Magazine. Sept-Oct, pp. 30?38.
http://audubonmagazine.org/incite/incite0909.html
William P. Mueller
Milwaukee
(414) 698-9108
(262) 638-0735
E-mail: iltlawas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Work e-mail: bmueller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On the web: http://home.earthlink.net/~iltlawas/
Blog: http://bluebirdslaugh.blogspot.com
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