BAYONNE – A free feral cat Trap-Neuter-Return training workshop will be held for Bayonne residents on Saturday, June 2nd at the Bayonne Public Library, 697 Avenue C in the Gallery Room from 12 – 3 p .m. The workshop which will be given by The Neighborhood Feral Cat Initiative is being sponsored by local animal welfare organizations Companion Animal Trust, The Hudson County Animal League and the Bayonne Feral Cat Foundation.
Attendees will learn the steps in setting up a managed cat colony including establishing good community relations, feeding, building and placing shelters, arranging vet care, safely handling feral cats, and trapping. All attendees will become TNR certified and Hudson County residents will gain access to low cost spay/neuter and trap rentals.
Reservations are required. For more information and to make a reservation for the workshop, please call 201-884-9649 or email cat@companionanimaltrust.com.
The Neighborhood Feral Cat Initiative, which is a program of Companion Animal Trust, was launched in February 2009 to raise public awareness about the community feral cat population and to provide practical ways to deal with it through Trap-Neuter-Return training workshops. Since that time, over 300 Hudson County residents have become TNR certified and over 1300 feral cats have been spayed and neutered.
Feral cats are free-roaming cats that are untamed and unsuitable for adoption. If left alone, they keep reproducing and can become a neighborhood nuisance prompting well-meaning community members to call animal control to take care of them. However, this just means that the cats are removed and killed, prompting new cats to take over the territory.
In the process of Trap-Neuter-Return the cat is humanely trapped, then transported to a vet where it is spayed or neutered, ear tipped and rabies vaccinated. Then the cat is released back to its original outdoor location and managed by a caregiver. The benefits of TNR to the community are many.