Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is not abandonment and local laws must reflect it

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Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is not abandonment and
local laws must reflect it
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• Quick facts
• Alley Cat Allies supports the enforcement of laws
  that punish true abandonment, but these laws do
  not apply whatsoever to Trap-Neuter-Return.
• Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is not cat abandonment.
  When community cats are returned, they are going
  back to the outdoor homes where they have been
  living and thriving. TNR improves community cats
  lives and is in their best interest.
• However, in too many jurisdictions, community cat
  caregivers and TNR advocates face legal
  consequences for their TNR efforts because of
  punitive and outdated abandonment laws that do
  not account for community cats who live in the
  outdoors.
• A specific law is not necessary to practice TNR.
  Most communities with active and successful TNR
  programs do not have one on the books. However,
  existing, outdated ordinances should be updated
  to remove barriers to TNR.
• The American Bar Association (ABA), the largest
  association of legal professionals in the United
  States, adopted a resolution urging legislative
  bodies and governmental agencies to interpret
  existing laws and policies, and adopt laws and
  policies, to allow the implementation and
  administration of trap-neuter-vaccinate-return
  programs for community cats

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• To protect TNR programs and those who carry them
  out, animal laws must be reviewed and the term
  abandonment redefined to exempt TNR and the
  work of community cat caregivers.
• All around the world, communities are
  increasingly embracing Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)
  programs sometimes known as Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-
  Return (TNVR), Shelter-Neuter-Return (SNR), and
  Return To Field (RTF) programs as the humane and
  effective approach to community cats, also called
  feral cats. They do so in recognition that top
  animal experts and peer-reviewed studies confirm
  that TNR stabilizes community cat populations
  through a process of spay and neuter,
  vaccination, and return to the outdoor homes in
  which they were found.
• The most successful TNR programs evolve naturally
  from grassroots advocacy. Grassroots activists
  take action to fill a void in much-needed spay
  and neuter services for cats who live outdoors.
  Their local shelter and animal control agency
  then acknowledge the positive impact and waive
  typical requirements such as a shelter hold
  period accordingly for community cats. And
  finally, the local government, often prompted by
  advocates, ensures these TNR programs do not face
  legal roadblocks by updating the animal code to
  exempt community cats from policies created for
  indoor cats who are reliant on humans.

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• That final change is one of the most critical.
  Community cats are not pet cats. They have no
  owners, they thrive outdoors as part of our
  neighborhoods, and require a different kind of
  care . And though most model animal ordinances do
  not include a specific TNR law, they do clarify
  the distinction between community cats and owned
  cats. They specify that community cat caregivers
  are not owners, and as such are not in violation
  of leash laws, pet limits, at-large provisionsor
  abandonment laws.
• Successful ordinances acknowledge that the
  completion of TNR is not abandonment, but a
  homecoming.
• In this resource, we walk you through the
  definition of abandonment, why TNR does not fit
  that definition, the recommendations of top legal
  experts in drafting animal laws, and how
  following those recommendations is vital to
  prevent TNR programs and those who carry them out
  from being wrongfully penalized.

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• What is cat abandonment?
• While the legal definition of abandonment
  varies, it generally refers to when an owner (or
  person responsible for an animal) intentionally,
  knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal
  negligence leaving an animal behind, or
  permitting an animal to be left behind, without
  providing for the animals proper care or making
  reasonable arrangements for custody with another
  person.
• Abandoning a cat is considered animal cruelty in
  49 states and the District of Columbia and is
  mentioned in almost all states animal cruelty
  laws. Some of these laws include abandonment in
  their definition of cruelty, some include it in
  a list of cruel acts, and some deem abandonment
  as its own offense.
• Alley Cat Allies supports the enforcement of laws
  that punish true abandonment, but these laws do
  not apply whatsoever to TNR.

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• Why TNR is not abandonment
• If abandonment is defined by an owner
  intentionally and recklessly putting a cat in
  harms way by placing her in an unfamiliar
  environment without the resources she is
  accustomed to, then TNR is the exact opposite.
• First, consider that the people caring for
  community cats are not their owners. Community
  cats were there before a caregiver began to feed
  them and would continue to be there should the
  caregiver decide to stop. They have no owner, and
  their caregivers are simply good Samaritans.
• Next, note the fundamental difference between
  community cats and pet cats. Unlike cats who live
  indoors and rely on people for their care,
  community cats have the skills to care for
  themselves in the outdoors. They bond to their
  specific territories and feline families. They
  know where to find food, where to hide, and how
  to stay safe.
• Understand what the Return in TNR really means.
  Cats are brought back to the exact outdoor homes
  in which they are trapped the territories they
  know well and in which they have the resources to
  thrive. TNR is not relocation, which introduces
  cats to unfamiliar surroundings. TNR also does
  not put cats accustomed to indoor homes into the
  outdoors.

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• On the matter of intent, those who carry out TNR
  do so because it improves, rather than threatens,
  the health and wellbeing of community cats.
  Vaccinations, which are usually given during TNR
  (AKA TNVR), protect cats against disease. Spay
  and neuter reduces the stresses of mating and
  pregnancy in cats, and is scientifically proven
  to prevent certain feline infections and cancers.
• To top it all off, community cats who are spayed
  or neutered through a TNR program often gain
  caregivers they may not have had before. As such,
  they are provided with regular food and water and
  cozy shelters.
• No part of the process represents anything
  approaching abandonment.
• These animals have been thriving and surviving
  in the same area, so we are not abandoning them
  by returning them through TNR and we have not
  had any complaints regarding abandonment. This
  program is our biggest and most lifesaving that
  weve ever put in place, says Rene Vasquez,
  director of Fort Bend Animal Services in Fort
  Bend, Texas. In 2018, Fort Bend amended its
  animal ordinance to support and protect TNR,
  including exempting community cats from laws like
  leash requirements.

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• Top legal experts agree that abandonment laws
  should exempt TNR
• Today, despite the incredible track record of
  TNR, too may animal control agencies still
  wrongfully interpret the return of community cats
  through a TNR program as abandonment. In most of
  these communities, officers have legal grounds to
  impound those cats and penalize their caregivers.
  Local laws have not yet been amended to prevent
  it.
• Keep in mind that in these same communities,
  grassroots TNR efforts are underway right now.
  Should an activist be in the wrong place at the
  wrong time one day, they could face a heavy fine
  just for bringing a cat back to her outdoor home.
  That is not conducive to the growth of nonlethal
  programs, or the wellbeing of a communitys
  citizens.
• The American Bar Association (ABA), the largest
  association of legal professionals in the United
  States, recognizes the lifesaving benefits of TNR
  and the dangers animal laws pose to TNR community
  cat programs and advocates if they remain stuck
  in the past. In 2017, the ABA adopted Resolution
  102B urging
• state, local, territorial, and tribal
  legislative bodies and governmental agencies to
  interpret existing laws and policies, and adopt
  laws and policies, to allow the implementation
  and administration of trap-neuter-vaccinate-return
  programs for community cats within their
  jurisdictions so as to promote their effective,
  efficient, and humane management.

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• This resolution implicitly calls upon governments
  to redefine abandonment in their animal code in
  order to explicitly exempt community cats as part
  of a TNR program..
• What you can do
• As youve read so far, TNR protects and improves
  the lives of cats and reflects the humane values
  of communities. As sound public policy, it
  benefits the cats, the people who care for them,
  and the neighborhoods in which they live. It
  allows community cats to stay in their outdoor
  homes where they belong.
• However, too many jurisdictions have animal laws
  that lack express language exempting TNR and the
  work of community cat caregivers from the
  definition of abandonment. As a result, many
  caregivers have faced, or are facing, legal
  consequences for their compassion. Efforts to
  improve cats lives and benefit the community are
  hindered by enforcement of these punitive laws.
  Or, alternatively, abandonment laws are simply
  not enforced at all because their scope is too
  wide.
• To further advance lifesaving change, we cannot
  let animal laws that are decades out of date stay
  on the books.

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• We must urge our local government leaders to open
  up a discussion on the animal ordinances as they
  stand and update them so they no longer create
  barriers to nonlethal approaches. Look into your
  communitys law governing animal abandonment. If
  abandonment is not explicitly defined to exclude
  community cats in a TNR program, speak up and ask
  for change. Well help you get started at
  alleycat.org/AdvocacyToolkit.
• Contact your legislators and ask that they follow
  the ABAs advice. Resolution 102B is a powerful
  endorsement of TNR and its place in our
  communities.
• For examples of ideal ordinance language, ask
  them to look to three states that have explicitly
  exempted cats who have been part of a
  Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program from abandonment
  definitions Maine, Nevada, and Utah.
• To ensure TNR is not considered abandonment,
  Alley Cat Allies recommends that all animal
  ordinances include the following language
• A person who returns a community cat to its
  original location while conducting
  Trap-Neuter-Return is not deemed to have
  abandoned the cat.

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• TNR is not abandonment. The voice of the people
  your voice is key to ensuring TNR and those who
  carry it out are not at risk from laws that are
  meant to punish animal cruelty offenders.
• More Information
• Cats and the law
• Finding and understanding your local laws
• Trap-Neuter-Return
• Why Trap-Neuter-Return community cats? The case
  for TNR
• Research Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is not
  abandonment

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