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The evidence of TNR's effectiveness does not end there. In Maricopa County, Arizona, eight years of a TNR program has seen the euthanasia rate drop from 23 cats per 1000 county residents to only 8 cats per 1000. In southern Florida, where local TNR programs were introduced in the early 1990's, euthanasia by animal control has dropped by half with most of the decline attributed to fewer cats being killed. For example, in 2001, all shelters combined in the Fort Lauderdale/Miami corridor euthanized 14.1 cats and dogs per 1000 residents, compared to 33.0 per 1000 in 1997. In Tampa, where TNR has not been implemented, the euthanasia rate in 2001 was 32.4 cats and dogs per 1000 residents, while across the bay in St. Petersburg where TNR has been widely practiced, the rate is only 13.7. Euthanasia rates drop with TNR programs primarily for two reasons - fewer cats being born on the streets means fewer cats entering shelters and being euthanized because they're too wild to be adopted or there aren't enough homes. In addition, lower intake rates mean less competition for cats already in the shelter system for spots in adoptive homes. Support for TNR also comes from the academic community. Dr. Julie Levy, DVM, recently published an eleven year study of a TNR program conducted at her campus at the University of Florida, Gainsville. (Evaluation of the effect of a long-term trap-neuter-return and adoption program on a free-roaming cat population, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Vol. 222, No. 1, January 1, 2003.) The program resulted in a 66% decline in the feral population over the course of the study. Dr. Levy concluded that, "A comprehensive long-term program of neutering followed by adoption or return to the resident colony can result in reduction of free-roaming cat populations in urban areas." Dr. Margaret Slater, DVM, of Texas A&M (author of Community Approaches to Feral Cats: Problems, Alternatives & Recommendations), has also conducted on-campus studies of TNR and is a strong proponent of the method. There can no longer be any question TNR is effective when properly implemented on a community-wide scale if the bottom line is lowering feral and stray cat populations. And for most communities, reducing the street cat population is the bottom line because it means less euthanasia, more cost savings and a better public image. Because of TNR's critical role, the utility of the method should not be obscured by the debate over whether cats belong outside or whether ferals reduce wildlife populations. Like it or not, tens of millions of cats live outdoors and saying they shouldn't or passing laws banning them isn't going to change that basic fact. Likewise, if ferals are killing off wildlife, the answer is fewer feral cats and TNR alone has been shown to achieve this. No other method, such as trap and kill, has ever done the same. If we are ever going to reach the point when only the terminally ill and suffering are euthanized, the time has come for TNR to be embraced at the forefront of the no-kill movement. As a community, we must move beyond questioning whether TNR is an enlightened and humane practice and concentrate instead on developing methods to spread and improve its long-term implementation.
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In
San Diego, the Feral Cat Coalition introduced TNR in 1992 on a county-wide
basis. By 1994, despite the opposition of animal control, euthanasia rates
at county shelters for all cats, domestic and feral, had dropped by 40%.
In a city-wide TNR program led by the San Francisco SPCA during the
1990's, euthanasia rates dropped over a six year period by over 70%, again
for both domestic and feral cats. On a smaller scale, we have had a
similar experience here in New York City where we began implementing TNR
on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1999. From that time through the
first half of 2003, the intake rate for stray cats entering city shelters
from this neighborhood has dropped by 73%. The rate dropped 59% in the
first year alone. Elsewhere in the city, intake rates were generally
stable or rising.