What is TNR

Before TNR for more than a century, the American shelter and animal control system has been relying on catching and killing outdoor cats to control their population. This approach continues to fail, and the number of outdoor cats increases even though millions of vibrant, healthy outdoor cats are killed each year. Taxpayer money that funds shelters and animal control agencies is wasted on an endless cycle of trapping and killing. Increasingly, the public believes that the money spent on killing could and should be re-allocated to programs that help animals. With catch and kill policies, vaccinated and neutered cats are removed from an area. But that only creates a vacuum in the environment where new cats move in to take advantage of available resources. The new cats breed and the cat population grows. Catch and kill policies aren’t just cruel and ineffective, they go against what the public really wants: humane approaches to cats. After TNR it balances the needs and concerns of the human communities in which many feral cats live. People don’t want cats rounded up and killed. They want to see cat populations stabilized and appreciate when the mating behaviors of cats are brought into check through spaying and neutering. With TNR, adult cats are returned to the colony to live out their lives in their outdoor home. TNR is about more than saving today’s cats: it is the future of animal control and sheltering. Every year, more and more communities are adopting TNR programs to save more cats and improve their communities. Please join Healing Paws Cat Sanctuary to help us spread the word. You can bring TNR to your community too!