Tucson's Humane Society of Southern Arizona no longer accepts trapped, wild or feral cats into its shelter. As an alternative, the shelter distributes resources on Trap-Neuter-Return and encourages community members to get actively involved in T-N-R programs.
"We switched to this approach for philosophical reasons," says Humane Society Executive Director Susan Wilson. "As far as feral cats were concerned, it was starting to feel like we were a processing center for euthanasia. The cats weren't tame enough to be placed in homes, so at the end of three days we simply had to put them down. At the same time, we were providing low-cost spay/neuter surgery for feral cats in our clinic. We felt it was necessary to re-examine the schizophrenic way we were dealing with feral cats."
By refusing to take in healthy ferals (sick and injured cats can be brought in for euthanasia), the Humane Society will eliminate the deaths of approximately 1,166 cats per year, reducing total cat deaths by 11%. It will also free up more space for cats who can be re-homed.
