# What to do about people who trap cats and turn them over to a kill shelter?



## shan841 (Jan 19, 2012)

Ugh. So, long story short.... There are no laws in my county to protect ferals. The shelter is bad. Really bad. I recently started volunteering at this shelter. I am one of the first people they have finally allowed to volunteer. When i was there for the first time last saturday, i found out that there is an older couple who routinely traps feral/stray cats and brings them to the shelter to be killed. I really want to try to talk to these people, and obviously get them to stop, or even better get them to help with TNR since they have so much free time to go around setting traps. 

I am obviously not going to just go up and tell these people how stupid and cruel they are (even though i REALLY want to) 

Does anyone have experience in a situation like this? Is there anything i can really do or should I not even bother? I know the main problem is the shelter practices, but until they get a new shelter director and som new laws in effect i figure i have nothing to lose from trying


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## LadyK (Jan 30, 2012)

UGH. How upsetting! I think Alley Cat Allies has some brochures about the pros of having managed cat colonies. Perhaps place some brochrues in the shelter to educate them of the reasons why it's ok to have some cats around. (The cats control rodent population, so without mice running around, you're less likely to have snakes, etc.). Also, I think they describe the vacuum effect, so removing cats will just allow new cats to move in, but if you TNR, the fixed cats establish territory and keep the population under control. 

Hopefully someone has had good experience with this... I'd love to hear other ideas or strategies.


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## Ritzpg (Dec 7, 2010)

Defintely contact Alley Cat Allies--their national headquarters is in Betheda, not too far from you. Lots of good info on line that is printer friendly. ACA may also talk to the county's shelter director. Yeah, you're right--the current one is woefully behind the times. (Is public funding an issue?)
I would go to the couple and ask if you could "help" them trap the cats, and volunteer to take them to get 'fixed'--at your local low cost s/n place. Alley Cat Allies has a feral clinic every third Sunday of the month in Washington, DC. Do you think they'd let you do this, and about how many cats are we talking about?


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## jadis (Jul 9, 2011)

Does the couple definitely know the cats are being killed? Is it possible they think they are being adopted out or released elsewhere?


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## scottd (Jun 28, 2011)

jadis said:


> Does the couple definitely know the cats are being killed? Is it possible they think they are being adopted out or released elsewhere?


I have learned that some people are just plain evil. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew and supported it.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Heck, we had an old man trapping cats and driving them out to the desert. People got wind of it and came down on him. Some people just hate. Their miserable human beings. 

Great news to hear Alley Cat Allies are near you. Better them than you to approach the shelter with new ideas about ferals. Bottom line solution is to get Animal Control and all shelters refuse to accept feral cats and to advise people only TNR is the accepted solution. Its a big step but can happen with the support of you, volunteers and TNR people stepping up to supprt the change together.

Up until a few years ago the HS here euthanized ferals. They changed their policy and now s/n for free some months (from grants) Or low cost other months.


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