No, I do not want all feral cats trapped and "exterminated" which has been erroneously stated about me. Although that would most certainly help stop the rampant spread of rabies in Westchester County it is simply not the right thing to do.
Local, county, and state politicians need to work with animal rights organizations to establish feral cat sanctuaries where wild cats would be cared for properly away from the public. This sanctuary solution is an idea I've been pitching for years in the North County News, to former Yorktown supervisors Don Peters and Susan Siegel, and most recently to county executive Rob Astorino and the assistant commissioner at the Department of Health Peter DeLucia.
Cat advocacy groups need to start pushing sanctuaries as the solution to the unnaturally occurring huge numbers of feral cats because the TNR program absolutely endangers the health and safety of humans as well as other forms of wildlife...try asking some birds, rabbits, and squirrels what they think of feral cats. The health hazards feral cats pose to humans even extend well beyond rabies and include toxoplasmosis which is spread through cat feces, ringworm, cat scratch fever, and salmonellosis.
Most importantly the 1 rabies shot given to wild cats through the TNR program does not provide sufficient rabies protection according to New York State Law and for TNR promoters to pretend that it does is unconscionable! In addition to sanctuaries laws would need to be established to prevent the feral cat cycle from reoccurring such as mandatory spaying/neutering, visible identification of owned pet cats, cat licensing, and prohibiting the feeding of all wildlife, just to name a few.
Simply put, we need a solution to the feral cat problem that protects cats, wildlife AND people and TNR is definitely not it.
