Some of this news is already outdated - the voucher program that we worked so hard to achieve is now active and 37 vouchers have been distributed since 8/1/24. We are also meeting with state legislators to work towards introducing a bill in the NYS legislature that would require cat owners to register & vaccinate their cats (same as dogs). This would put pressure on the town board to open a cat shelter, since they would be required by law to take in stray cats just as they are required to take in stray dogs.
Thank you so much for the update! Sounds like there's been a lot of progress. I do have a question (just to clarify, this is Kristen, not Stacy) is there any worry about their being more euthanasia due to capacity if the town opens its own shelter?
@@communitycatspodcast I don't see that as a problem, and I'm more focused on getting a shelter at this point than worrying about capacity. Without a shelter, we have zero capacity and cats are breeding and dying in the streets. You know the statistics: 75% of kittens born outdoors don't survive past 6 months. The existing animal shelter, which only accepts dogs, only euthanizes when dogs are very sick. They have a foster program, also. The shelter manager is on our side and wishes she could do more to help the cats in town, but they are understaffed - in order to even run the existing TNR program, they need a Feral Cat Coordinator to handle the calls and schedule the appointments - but the person who did that job quit several months ago and they haven't been able to replace her. (Maybe because the job is only 19 hours per week, offers no benefits, and includes weekends). Meanwhile the many volunteers like Stuart and myself continue to feed colonies, do TNR on our own, and advocate for better services in North Hempstead.
Stuart also neglected to tell your listeners that we have a UA-cam channel with recordings of past protests and constituents speaking out at town meetings - www.youtube.com/@NorthHempsteadNeedsCatShelter
Some of this news is already outdated - the voucher program that we worked so hard to achieve is now active and 37 vouchers have been distributed since 8/1/24. We are also meeting with state legislators to work towards introducing a bill in the NYS legislature that would require cat owners to register & vaccinate their cats (same as dogs). This would put pressure on the town board to open a cat shelter, since they would be required by law to take in stray cats just as they are required to take in stray dogs.
Thank you so much for the update! Sounds like there's been a lot of progress. I do have a question (just to clarify, this is Kristen, not Stacy) is there any worry about their being more euthanasia due to capacity if the town opens its own shelter?
@@communitycatspodcast I don't see that as a problem, and I'm more focused on getting a shelter at this point than worrying about capacity. Without a shelter, we have zero capacity and cats are breeding and dying in the streets. You know the statistics: 75% of kittens born outdoors don't survive past 6 months. The existing animal shelter, which only accepts dogs, only euthanizes when dogs are very sick. They have a foster program, also. The shelter manager is on our side and wishes she could do more to help the cats in town, but they are understaffed - in order to even run the existing TNR program, they need a Feral Cat Coordinator to handle the calls and schedule the appointments - but the person who did that job quit several months ago and they haven't been able to replace her. (Maybe because the job is only 19 hours per week, offers no benefits, and includes weekends). Meanwhile the many volunteers like Stuart and myself continue to feed colonies, do TNR on our own, and advocate for better services in North Hempstead.
Stuart also neglected to tell your listeners that we have a UA-cam channel with recordings of past protests and constituents speaking out at town meetings - www.youtube.com/@NorthHempsteadNeedsCatShelter
That's an excellent resource too! Thank you for sharing!