A lot of rescuers and vets are confused as to what is happening regarding TNR and City vouchers. Many vets no longer take the vouchers at all. The mandatory spay/neuter law created a lucrative, expanded market for sterilization surgeries, and vets no longer depend on City subsidies. Most do not take any City vouchers. They don't even bother apply to the City. Noreda used to accept the $70 voucher as full payment. Now they have a low cost day once a week I believe, where a feline kitten spay is $125, otherwise it is a much higher fee on other days. They no longer take City vouchers.
My primary vet, Adler Clinic in Reseda, now charges $250 for a female kitten spay. I hate to imagine how much it costs to spay a 70 lb. German Shepherd.
A lot of rescuers have told me they think TNR, trapping, and S/N of ferals is now illegal. They tell me their vets are no longer accepting City vouchers and therefore have stopped their TNR activities altogether. The City really needs to clarify to them that TNR is not illegal, only the City support through vouchers is illegal.
Now one can recommend lying, and for rescuers to try to get coupons from the city for owned pets and use them for ferals with “No one will know the difference” vets, but we are asking everyone to do a lot of lying and perform borderline illegal acts to circumvent the City’s TNR policy change as a result of the lawsuit. We are asking a lot people to become borderline criminals.
I doubt whether the city will give rescuers 30-40 vouchers for their “owned” cats, as they had been doing with feral vouchers. I understand that when you go to the shelters now, they ask a lot of questions specifically to preclude getting vouchers for ferals.
Ron Mason recently called the spaymobile people (He didn’t say for sure which one, but thought it was Amanda) asking for an appointment to sterilize a mom and three kittens. The person refused, calling him a rescuer, and saying they don’t do ferals anymore and he had to go elsewhere. Ron was shocked; he hadn't even mentioned vouchers or ferals. It was assumed he was a rescuer and hung up on.
The current $30 vouchers require an owner’s name, a name for the cat and a description. To use it for a feral that does not match that description is fraud. It would be fraud on the part of the vet and the rescuer. I don’t think a vet who is making the average vet practice of $1.3 million a year in Los Angeles is going to want to get into a legal hassle for a few dozen $30 certificates, when he can charge $250 to spay a kitten.
The mandatory S/N law along with Longcore’s lawsuit is adding up to a near term future bumper crop of killing of kittens and cats, and each and every additional cat and kitten death this coming year can be laid at his doorstep. Urban Wildlands and the various bird societies are gloating now at their "victory" over cats. I wish that gloat were wiped off their faces.
It might even be the case that some rescue group can bring a lawsuit challenging the mandatory S/N law or else the City's policy change, as creating a legal obligation done in an era when the City proised to support spay neuter, and then abandoning that support after the legal obligation was law, abandoning them to greedy vets who had a new market created by the new S/N law. Yeah to American greed. Maybe I ought to invent a slur for greedy vets so the PC people can go after me again for professional discrimination.
12 comments:
Actually for years and years rescuers have been playing all the games. We find poor senior citizens and get them to get coupons for us. They don't ask for a description of the cat. Then we use those on whatever animals we have, e.g. ferals, strays we've picked up, animals dumped on us by the public. We just tell the vets we're just dropping off and picking up the animals for the old people. Everyone knows we do this and no one cares. Animals are getting neutered with the neuter funds. That is all that matters. No one has been arrested, cited or charged with anything.
I beg to differ. The current $30 certificates do have a description of the cats as to name, sex, coat, age owners name and address and phone number. I saw one just last week.
To get the $70 certificates you have to fill out a long questionaire.
Yes, rescue groups have been doing this for years, but they no longer can get spay/neuter vouchers legally for ferals. Everyone has to look the other way and the shelters are not looking the other way right now because they can't because of the lawsuit.
You don't get it. There has been a game change because of the lawsuit. The old ways and practices are out the window.
Sick. Sick. Sick. I had no idea LA was so backwards. And I thought living in the South was bad!
Ed, is Alley Cat Allies helping with this?
Alleycat Allies has been totally absent here. HSUS has been totally absent here. Several feral experts promised to do a rebuttal of the Longcore paper, but they have been totally absent also. The City failed to do a CEQA study two years ago because lack of money to fund one. So the City went absent and pretended they had never backed TNR. When Longcore proved the City had been lying, the Judge found for Longcore and his Urban Wildlands.
Urban Wildlands did their own funding of the lawsuit against the City. No one in the City really defended the cats. They claim poverty. Now look what is happening.
Nationally, do we know if there has ever been an environmental impact study done on feral cats? And if so, what were the results, what was the cost and who were the players?
Brad Jensen
Cypress,CA
Not that I know of. In fact, the studies about feral population dynamics are rare. There are a lot of as hoc observations, and there is the ideological positions taken by Alleycat Allies versus the ideologies of Urban Wildlands, but there isn't a big body of evidence---and I have been looking. On google check Levy in Florida on feral cats, and Longcore for the opposition side.
I'd do it, but everyone would expect my conclusions would be tainted. But I can provide data for anyone doing the study.
I was thinking more along the lines of what connections Longcore may or may not have with those who do environmental impact studies. Follow the money as some might say.
Brad Jensen
Cypress,CA
Actually Wildlands does do portions of studies, but he knows the City would never fund his opinion because it is already expressed and counter to what the city wants to do, which is promote TNR.
I don't know who the CEQA biggies are, but Longcore might next challenge any TNR CEQA study that does not support his pro cat kill policy. However, most cities are capable of doing a CEQA study all on their own. Santa Monica does it all the time.
For the time being I'll be pulling Best Friends Catnippers and Stray Cat Alliance from my list of groups that give out the $30 vouchers, per their direction. The Amanda s/n van has never let people bring ferals to them.
Lori Golden
The Pet Press
FYI:
There will be a free spay/neuter clinic for ferals and free roaming cats held on Sunday Jan. 31st.
Sponsored by Purrfect Partners
The clinic will be held at
P.V. Village Pet Clinic
201 Palos Verdes Blvd.
Redondo Beach, 90277
All cats must be brought in traps, no carriers, cardboard boxes etc.
To make reservations please call
Mary (310) 373-1585
Re- Ally Cat Allies has been totally absent here. This is something I just received from them today:
"Alley Cat Allies has been working with L.A. for about 20 years, and have launched our L.A. Campaign: www.alleycat.org/LosAngeles – asking that spay/neuter funding be reinstated for L.A.’s feral cats. We put up an action center, asking residents to contact a few city councilmember (who are sympathetic to animal issues) before they had a meeting with the Animal Commission. Each councilmember received over 200 emails from city residents.
We are also working with a coalition of TNR and animal groups to influence the city to appeal the decision."
They do have info about this in their latest Email newsletter - and will have an article in the next issue of The Pet Press, coming out the end of this month.
Lori Golden
The Pet Press
Ed, it's the "T" in "TNR" that's illegal. Can't "T" without a permit to "T," you know?
The "N" and "R" aren't illegal. You can "N and R" all you want. Just don't get caught if you also "T." The borderline crimminal part has been in effect for years---just don't get caught w/ people complaining that you are doing the "T" part.
Fixnation, Catnippers, and Stray Cat Alliance have always done s/n independently from the vouchers--they were doing s/n before the city gave out vouchers for ferals. No problem with the adults---it's the kittens that neither group does, and lots of vets won't do a s/n on a kitten anyway. Just keep feeding them until they're at least three months old, then do the "borderline crimminal" part and do the "T" and get the kittens to Fixnation, Catnippers, or Stray Cat Alliance and you won't have a problem with having to pay $250 for a spay.
No one gets killed, and the kittens don't get pregnant by the time they're 4, 5, and 6 months of age.
Mark Dodge, Karn Meyers, and Christi Metropole were successful before the city pitched in with vouchers, and they will continue to be successful as long as people continue to contribute to their organizations and they continue to get sponsorship by Best Friends and the rest of the contributors who have always supported them.
They are incredible groups and they perform miracles. They will continue to do so with or without the city, really.
Also, Ed., I'm relieved Marco isn't going to be doing as many s/n on kittens now that he doesn't have the city vouchers (I hope). He botched up two of my females even when they were three months old when I brought them into Noreda for s/n. He left one with a hernia and both females had abdomens full of liquid, which he wouldn't remove. He wouldn't touch the kittens the day after surgery---after he got his money from the city vouchers (I used vouchers for them).
I had to take them to another vet to repair the hernia and get the fluid out of both females. The males didn't have any trouble, but he botched up the females. Noreda charges a huge chunk of change for for ruining kittens. Besides the havoc he caused on my female babies, the kittens had to go through another surgery soon after to remove the hernia---then the surgery site became infected and the vet had to cut one of the females open again. She was so little....three months old, but the runt of a litter of three. "Runtie Poops" was tiny. (She still is so little after four years).
Anyhow...I trust the surgeons who Mark and Karn employ to do s/n more than I trust a lot of vets. They are honest, efficient, and care deeply about the cats. I'm not sure that a lot of vets do---namely Noreda, Porter, and that Fahrid guy at the Devonshire Animal Hospital (?).
Karn and Mark are really wonderful. I would stick with them for both finanical reasons and for the well-being of the cats.
Kianna~
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