Dear Editor:
Very shortly I am going to walk every block in Union City and take an outdoor cat census or count of each cat I see. However, I anticipate missing cats which are in backyards, sleeping in some hidden spot, skittish of people, bothered by traffic noise, under the care of caregivers, or cats have been taken to the vet for spay or neuter that day. Sadly, some will have died of starvation or been hit by a car or been poisoned even as I conduct my count.
I am calling on the people of Union City to phone me or email me if you would like to report a cat or cats in your neighborhood to include in the count. All information will be confidential. In Union City, it is desirable to begin seeing cats as COMMUNITY CATS rather than just alley cats or feral cats. We as a community begin to take ownership and invest our lives in the welfare of street cats. We invest our lives as citizen problem solvers and people of compassion. We must be aware of the cats but equally aware of how we contribute to cat overpopulation in our city. More important, we should stop blaming cats for nuisance problems and seek to stop our irresponsibility in abandoning our pets to the gutter. We ask what we can do as people, as a community, to preserve and protect the lives of cats that we see every day in our backyard or parking lot or empty lot. Contact: (201) 864-9722 or rasseeker@yahoo.com to participate in a virtual census.
Your fellow neighbor,
Tony Squire