I received a call yesterday...

...from a person at a location(s) where TNR is taking place. The land managers are understandably concerned about it. The land managers wanted to borrow some info from our webpage to use for a presentation, and called to ask permission. The caller said the most amazing thing. I'm afraid I have to paraphrase, but it was something like:

"These people (TNR practitioners) are responsible for removing over a hundred cats from this area...and they've done it all for free."

Here is a land group who might be forgiven if they were to say "We are very concerned about trap/neuter/return. We shouldn't have cats here at all."

And let's face it, there isn't a person on this earth who wouldn't like the problem to just go away magically, if it could.

The difference is, this is a person who--whether or not they ultimately agree with TNR (we didn't have time to get into that)-- recognizes that TNR proponents ARE removing cats. Sure, TNR folk are sterilizing and supporting the cats that can't be adopted into traditional homes. But they are removing a significant number--from colonies that weren't being managed at all before someone started caring for and neutering the cats. And they aren't just removing cats yesterday and today. They will be there to remove new cats tomorrow and the next day. Friendly cats and tameable kittens are pulled from colonies as soon as possible for adoption.

And, the caller noted, "They aren't being paid for it."

Trap/neuter/return may not make every cat magically disappear, and some feral cats do stay on site to live out their lives (Or, alternatively, remain until other locations might be found for them). But it doesn't usually cost the land manager a dime unless they choose to contribute, because the practitioners themselves eat the costs, and discounts and programs from veterinarians and spay/neuter programs help.

In other words, other people are paying to help fix YOUR cat problem.

And this caller got it.

It's such a simple concept, yet, very few people get it. I've been thanked profusely by people, but most of them are just so happy to have the flood of kittens ended, that they really think of it more as an animal welfare and human social service issue...provided by kind people who have taken on a social obligation to help. When they give money, I'm assuming they often feel they are saying "thank you" or feel they are contributing to help the cats. I'm sure they don't feel the same as if they were paying the plumber who came out in the middle of the night for a broken pipe.

Very few land managers realize they are, in essence, getting a long-term professional service (animal control) for FREE when someone provides cat management services. To spay and vaccinate their pet cat, they would pay $250.00. To sterilize and vaccinate 9 of them, and have another 15 disappear to new homes, they are obligated to pay...nothing.

It's like when the plowing company sees a stranger struggling with a shovel, and stops and plows their drive for them...for free. Or when there's a big storm, and in the immediate aftermath a small tree-removal service starts motoring down the road in the neighborhood with chain saws and begins helping...for nothing. These are business persons who are specifically making a decision to provide a service for nothing...because they want to. Because it is the right thing to do. They can't do it all the time, but right now, helping is more important than the wallet.

While anti-TNR people sometimes stereotype TNR proponents as "cat ladies" in housecoats, most TNR people are employed professionals who certainly could be out making themselves more cash rather than fixing someone else's cats for them.

And frankly, an unemployed woman could probably find something much more self-serving to do with her money and time than drop all her spare dollars on fixing cats that live on someone else's property, that someone else abandoned.

This is the third person in the last two months who has indicated in conversation (or by action) that they "get it." Perhaps things are changing.

At any rate, it was a lovely phone call. I can't be sure what the final decision will be, however it seems clear that at least those who will make the decision are seeing the larger picture.

On that note, read this. All in a day's work. Amazing.