Here is what Drs. Longcore and Rich wrote in a 109 pages letter to the Mayor and Council of Beverly Hills on August 18, 2009 with regard to the proposed TNR legislation in that city:
TNR colonies are almost always maintained in perpetuity — a recent appeal for assistance relocating cats from a colony at Rancho Los Amigos claimed that the colony had been “well maintained since 1945” — so their location is important to residents. We believe that the issuance of permits should involve a public hearing and an appeals process to be fair to residents who will be forced to tolerate unwanted cats. Furthermore, each colony should undergo separate CEQA review because the environmental conditions and impacts will vary from location to location. In areas of the City with large lot sizes, the 150-foot radius for notice about potential colonies will be insufficient.
Longcore wants a separate CEQA study for each colony!! We can even do a CEQA study for the City of LA let alone for tens of thousands of individual colonies. This alone would make TNR impossible.
“Forced to tolerate unwanted cats” is a phrasing that points to Longcore’s own attitude. Even if he himself does not hold that view, he is raising it as an issue to shoot down the proposed Beverly Hills legislation by yanking the chains of cat haters.
Longcore and Rich also want a 300 meter (1,000 ft) buffer zone around parks wherein feral cat colonies would not be maintained. Not only would hundreds of thousands of park ferals and homeless be subject to “removal” colonies within three blocks would also be banned.
The proposed ordinance bans feeding and trapping of feral cats in public parks, which is the best feature of the proposed ordinance. However, maintenance of colonies near parks will have a similar effect on the incidence of cats in those parks. If the program is approved, would the City consider a 300 meter buffer zone around parks for maintenance of colonies? This number is derived from the average 10 ha range size for feral cats in an urban setting (Schmidt et al. 2007). A buffer of this size would decrease the number of feral cats that would then be hunting and foraging in City parks.
In fact, Londcore and Rich attack almost every proposal in the proposed TNR ordinance as being illegal, ineffective, or wrong. There is no expressed support for TNR anywhere or consideration of TNR as being even possibly effective in controlling feral populations. The BH proposed TNR ordinance was created to stop a proposed ban on TNR. By attacking the ordinance, Longcore and Rich were supporting the efforts to ban TNR. They have done the same thing in Los Angeles as their successful lawsuit proves. It is now just one small step to introduce legislation to ban feral colony caretaking.
11 comments:
Yeah, "forced to tolerate unwanted cats" jumped out at me too. This isn't someone who respects life in general and is regretful about what he feels is the need to control the feral cat population, this is someone who hates cats and who is trying push every possible button on other potential cat haters.
I have nothing against birds, in fact I like them. We even have wild parrots in my neighborhood, which is really great. But it seems like cats certainly can't kill ALL the birds - after all birds can still fly, can't they?
Why are birds MORE worthy of saving than cats? I think this guy just hates all cats because occasionally cats kill birds. Then again, in my neighborhood we also occasionally have hawks, who I'm sure kill birds as well. Does Longcore (BTW - REALLY with that name?) want to kill all the hawks too? How about rats or raccoons or possums or lizards or smakes who might steal eggs? Is his vision a bird-only world?
Plus, his point about cat colonies existing forever is bogus. In 1945 TNR wasn't the norm. A rigorous TNR policy would help (how about a TNR panel that helps colony managers by coordinating and subsidizing low-cost S/N?).
But this guy clearly just wants to kill cats. Next he'll be telling us that he wants to order a study to prove that all feral cats are in fact crack-dealing pedophiles.
Seriously, ganging up on and killing cats... Almost makes Michael Vick look manly.
I don't think they want to round them up and kill them. They still aren't issuing trapping permits and they don't want the feral cats in the shelters. Bok's policy about eliminating trapping and killing still stands w/ the shelters even after Boks is gone, even though he was refusing the ferals in the shelters and refused to issue trapping permits.
The banning of TNR is not equal to rounding the cats up and killing them. They dont' have the manpower to go around rounding cats up and killing them by the thousands. You can't kill them as fast as they would be going into the shelters, so they don't want the cats in there. You have to jump through a zillion loop holes before you get a permit to trap and bring a trapped feral into the shelter. They will put stop to you and threaten you for trapping without a permit and there is no way in hell they are going to give you one. Bok's made sure that his euthanasia stats would be brought to a minimum by refusing feral cats, by pushing TNR; making the staff push TNR, and by refusing to give out trapping permits for cats.
Even though he isn't there anymore, things have not changed regarding the trapping of feral cats.
Just for the heck of it, try to go to your shelter and tell them you want to round up 25 cats for the city to kill. Tell them they don't have to do the "work", but you will do it for them. Tehy aren't going to give you the time of day. Just try it. Make up stories to try to get your way. It won't work.
They don't want to legalize TNR because the city has been sued trying to support these efforts and they would look the other way when people wanted to TNR. Even the officers and lieutenants were pushing TNR every time someone would take a trapped cat into the shelter. They wouldn't take it. They would tell the public to get the cat s/n and release it. Even release it somewhere else if the cat/s couldn't stay where they were.
They don't want to legalize TNR, and even want to make it illegal. But, they don't want the cats either, and if you try to bring in trapped cats into the shelter you will be in loads of trouble. They sure aren't going to go out to round them up. They don't want to kill them. If the cats have been trapped and they're eartipped and you take a cat like that into the shelter, you will be deep in doo-doo with the officers.
They especially don't want ear-tipped cats in the shelter. They sure aren't going to round them up and risk bringing in an owned or ear-tipped cat. Ear-tipped cats are considered owned cats by the shelter because they supposedly have a caretaker.
The cats just stay on the street, or park, or wherever they are. They don't want you trapping them, even if is to spay and neuter them. They just don't want you trapping cats. They aren't going to make trapping legal. The whole point with TNR is the initial trapping of the cats. That's what they don't want to legalize.
The end result is that we are going to go back to the dark ages once again, with beaucoup cats multiplying like crazy. Feeders aren't going to stop feeding stray cats and they're going to keep reproducing. They'd rather feed than stop feeding, even if becomes illegal to trap cats.
It has always been illegal to trap. Trappers just get out and do it anyway. The city just doesn't want to put it in the books and make it policy.
Betcha if you continued to trap to spay and neuter, the city would still look the other way. Better spayed and neutered and well-fed cats (for those that are being fed after being released again), than starving, sickly, breeding, homeless strays. They had oodles of brochures and fliers at the shelters pushing TNR and TNR workshops. They sure aren't going to go out and trap themselves. They get the organizations and volunteers to do that for them everytime there is a call placed about unwanted ferals. The shelters call the feral cat organizations and the organizations have faithful volunteers going out and doing the work the city.
You will still be able to TNR all you want. Just don't get caught trapping without a permit. Most people don't get caught, until someone complains and they can prove you are the one that is trapping.
If you are trapping for TNR, they won't care. On the contrary; they leave you alone and appreciate the work you are doing on behalf of the city. Lots of people on LA Trappers work together with the city to take on the calls the city gets where the ferals are concerned, even though trapping is illegal. The organizations are taking up the slack for the city. They aren't going to start doing the "work" now, especially with all the budget cuts. They can't afford to do the work that it takes to trap; they don't have the people to do it, and they don't have the resources to house and then kill all the unwanted cats on the streets.
They will keep calling the organizations to take care of the "feral cat problem" each time they get a "hoarder," or whatever the case may be. You'll see. Just keep spaying and neutering the cats, keep everything clean, and you'll be ok.
#3
Ron Mason spayed and neutered - look what happened to him.
It's a nice theory that this city is too broke to persecute people who have more than three cats, to seize their cats and to kill them, not to mention trapping and killing feral cats. But there seems to be a serious will to kill cats in this city, and pandemic hatred of cats among city and county officials.
Look at what Officer Munez said to Ed: that the Animal Cruelty Task Force's biggest priority was "people who have too many cats." That's flat-out demented, and we're still paying this bozo's salary.
I understand. But that is not the common avenue they take, to trap and kill. People with too many cats might be a focus for the ACTF, but they still call feral cat organizations to do the work. If the cats don't get spayed and neutered, and the place cleaned up, they will usually get help for these people.
That's where the feral cat people get bogged down with the calls, always about these situations.
Mr. Mason kept having kittens. He wasn't managing the situation.
He was spaying and neutering, but it wasn't enough.
He kept getting more cats and more kittens.
He would turn in some kittens on his own here and there, but he was not able to keep his population stabilized. He was trying to do too much by taking on the situations where the ladies across the street were leaving food out, but not enough food for the number of cats that were out there. He fed them, and the population kept growing out of control.
There were too many cats for the limited amount of space he had, so they would pee on the appliances, the walls, etc. That's how cats react when the conditions become overcrowded and more new cats move in.
He is such a nice man. Sure there are always messier places than a bachelor's home, but normally, the ACTF will leave you alone and not bother you if you start off by having a very clean environment. It's a full time job, but it has to be done in order to keep the neighbors and other people who come over to your home from placing a complaint.
The point is, that on the average, the city isn't going to go out to trap so that they can kill.
What normally happens is that if someone places a complaint against too many cats is that they will normally tell you to stop feeding. But, they will not trap and take your cats on the average. Way to time consuming, and not enough space at the shelter to accomodate so many people with an average of 25 to 30 cats each.
But the point about TNR is that they just don't want you trapping cats. For caretakers, trapping often means trap, release, feed (for the good trappers).
The city doesn't want you trapping, and they don't want you feeding. A good caretaker can't trap without following up with feeding and even providing shelter for the cats. They deserve that much.
But, when push comes to shove, and the city needs help, they would rather place 20 calls to feral cat groups who are trapping undercover than issue trapping permits, which they will not do, or get out there themselves to do it.
It's like this: you drive down a boulevard as fast as you can, knowing there are cops around and risking getting a speeding ticket. But, you've done it for so long that you never get caught. It's the same way with TNR.
You can keep doing it, until you get caught---either by some complaint from the neighbors because you've got too many cats already, because you are trapping and bringing them home and socializing them to your yard, and people are dumping them at your home, and/or you are attracting more cats by not managing the population in your home by continually trapping and spaying and neutering. It has to be done regularly.
When you stop spaying and neutering the new cats and they keep having babies, and there are litters of new kittens in your yard and under your house, and there are so many cats around that the neighbors are complaining about the cat fights and the smell, AND they find traps and cages in your home, you've got enough evidence that you've been trapping here and there, illegally, but not managing your population.
If they catch you feeding, you are in deeper trouble. They don't want you feeding.
So, you can spay and neuter, just don't get caught trapping, or feeding. Worse both.
Even worse, if you get caught with a lot of cats living inside and outside of your home and there is urine on your appliances, as what happened w/ Mr. Mason.
The officers had a difficult time getting the urine stains off of their hands when they were done at Mr. Mason's home.
When you don't keep up with the cleaning on a day-to-day basis, with that many cats around, you are placing their lives in danger.
People rarely complain when the place is spotless inside and out. It is hard to do if you've got too many cats and your are attracting new cats by not keeping up with the trapping for new cats each time one shows up, and they're getting into fights and getting pregnant and dropping babies.
Then you have the added problem that when people know you are feeding cats, they dump their cats on you--sort of "relocate them" to a colony where cats are being fed, you know?
TNR is a very sensitive thing. You have to stay on top of it. You have to clean and manage like mad.
For the most part, though, the officers will give you a notice to comply, ordering you to stop feeding, and/or cut down to the legal limit.
The key is to have everything spotless, inside and out. Keep the fights down and have no new litters of kittens popping up so that they don't attract attention.
Keep your landscaping looking nice; front and back.
Most of the problem is when people don't clean up after the poo, especially in the yard. That is the first thing that is going to attract attention. The cats become the target of the place looks unkept and there are cats are visible. It doesn't even matter how many there are if the place looks a mess from the outside. Worse if it smells.
If you are feeding and leaving food out, raccoons and oppossums and skuns come over and eat the food.
Then they poo in the yard. The cats pay with their lives because people often don't bother to clean up after everyone who has left their little prizes behind.
Then an officer makes his house call when there are complaints and they force you to stop feeding. You tell them the cats are ear-tipped. They've been spayed and neutered.
It doesn't matter you will be forced to stop feeding them and cut down. That's how much we place their lives in jaopardy. They can't clean up after themselves and they can't wear a condom.
We have to do all that for them, or the blame gets turned on them and that just isn't fair to them.
"Longcore wants a separate CEQA study for each colony!! "
There is no way feral cat colony caretakers are going to expose themselves by revealing the locations where they are feeding cats and the number of cats there are at those locations; how many they started with, how many have declined, and how many have been added over the years. That would amount to self-incrimination and that would hurt the cats in the end. You give your name and address and give the locations and tell everyone where you are feeding and how many cats there are, you set yourself up and the cats up for trouble. You are giving them all the evidence they need to make you stop trapping, feeding, or both.
They will never get their "study."
It's drawing attention to yourself and your cats and saying, "hey, we're over here! Come get us! We admit we are doing all of this trapping and feeding illegally and we are going to continue to disobey the law because we have cats and we can't stop now." Let us give you all of our information so that you can tell us to stop feeding so that the cats who have been cared-for 10 years or more can starve to death. "
The money for the study isn't the only issue. They can go to hell if they want to do a "study" on my cats. TNR has always been illegal because trappin is illegal. Feeding leads to trapping and trapping leads to feeding. Once a trapper, always a trapper. Once a caretaker always a caretaker. The banning of TNR will never stop people who have a passion for TNR. Never.
They only way you can stop them is to put them in jail, and that is just not going to happen. It is absurd to "ban" TNR because it was never legal in the first place. TNR folks will just keep doing it under the radar and nothing is ever going to stop them.
"Dont' worry, Jimmy Fallon!"
First, if TNR wasn't policy why did LAAS have live traps available for rental?
And again, Ron Mason WAS arrested. Not only was he arrested, but they didn't even have the decency to let him know about bail bondsmen, so his sister ended up paying his entire bail out of her 401k instead of the ten percent they would have had to come up with if they'd had a bondsman.
They questioned him, on-camera, while that same L.A. City TV camera fails to show officers at any point reading Ron his rights. Neither does the Daily News reporter or photographer they invited along.
They may not go after a sweet little old lady who will be bad PR for them in handcuffs, but give them someone they can imply is somehow sinister, simply because he's an unstereotypical cat lover, and they will grind that person into the dust. That way they get the photo op, they intimidate a community whose big crime is loving cats no one else gives a crap about at best (at worst they want to kill them) and if, like Ron Mason, they own their own home, they trump up enormous costs in "caring" for the stolen cats, levy a huge fine, and steal their home. Particularly ironic since LAAS' care of Ron Mason's cats consisted of strangling them on catchpoles the law says they weren't allowed to use (but hey, who says a task force of Animal Control officers and police officers needs to follow the law?), traumatizing the cats, losing them and killing them.
Not to mention what they did to Ron, a good guy who looks after homeless cats. Ron Mason is the kind of guy we need more of, not the kind of guy who needs to go to jail. But he would have gone to jail an stayed there if it hadn't been for this blog.
LAAS literally banks on cat-haters like this Longcore guy. He needs to be stopped and they need to be stopped. The Animal Cruelty Task Force was formed so that ACOs could go into dangerous situations, and instead now they and the cops assigned to them while away their city paychecks persecuting people who look after homeless cats, while real abusers walk free.
LAAS is a joke, and the people who run it are worthless, cynical, venal and just plain evil.
#9, I was not arguing this statement wasn't true. I was not trying to imply that I LOVED these people. On the contrary, I agree completely and wholeheartedly with your last remark:
****"LAAS is a joke, and the people who run it are worthless, cynical, venal and just plain evil."****
This is LAAS in a nutshell and everybody knows they are an evil bunch, including the people within that department. They disgust me as much as they disgust you, and I disgust them too. As Inga, in Young Frankenstien, said to the good doctor..."Za feeling iz moooo--tchal!"
No matter how evil and cynical they are, it isn't going to stop people from doing the necessary work that needs doing and LAAS is not, especially where it concerns spay and neuter and the only way you can catch someone is by using a trap, or two, or fifteen.
"First, if TNR wasn't policy why did LAAS have live traps available for rental?"
Because they are disorganized and don't know what they want. It was never official policy, but they were telling you to TNR. Then they can go after you for feeding. The staff just follows along without seeing the connection. They don't do connections. They just do a job and follow whatever their manager tells them to do. That's what they do.
They are Screwed up and they screw the public up. Then they go after the public. They make something look like policy when it isn't, then they go after the public when they decide their fake policies don't work for them. It's fraud and evil cynicism at it's core.
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