Letter to the editor: Support cat program

To the editor:

Lawrence’s City Commission is considering several much-needed updates to our animal ordinances, including a provision to allow TNR (trap-neuter-return) of community cats. Community cats are unowned, free-roaming cats who are often unsocialized and unsuitable for adoption. Historically, such cats have faced a grim fate of euthanasia or a life of continuous breeding and fighting.

TNR is a humane and effective alternative that allows community cats to live out their lives without adding to overpopulation or putting additional strain on limited animal-shelter resources. It limits the burden on residents — often low-income people, senior citizens and people with disabilities — who have taken it upon themselves to care for community cats. It reduces nuisance behaviors like fighting and urine-marking. Unlike outdated “trap-and-kill” approaches, it does not create a vacuum effect where the sudden removal of a group of cats prompts an influx of new cats. In short, TNR is the best method for achieving what we all want: reducing the homeless cat population.

As a former Topeka resident and volunteer with Topeka Community Cat Fix (TCCF) and Helping Hands Humane Society, I have seen firsthand the positive impact of TNR. Since 2014, TCCF has spayed/neutered nearly 3,000 cats, and Helping Hands has seen decreases of almost 20 percent in cat/kitten intake and over 50 percent in euthanasia.

The TNR provision is a vital part of the effort to bring Lawrence’s animal ordinances in line with our values as a humane and progressive community.

Kara Kendall-Morwick,

Lawrence

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