The City of Carrollton does not support TNR. What this means is stray and feral cats are losing their lives.  Currently, if a cat arrives at the Carrollton Animal Shelter in a trap and the cat cannot be “safely handled” by staff, these cats are labeled as “potentially feral” and are not allowed to be adopted.  This can be their death sentence.  It’s not an easy task to properly evaluate a scared cat from a feral cat.  The sad reality is many are not feral, but instead scared and possibly lost or homeless.  Based on the evaluation of the "potentially feral" cats that have been saved by a rescue group, over 50% have turned out to be adoptable.  This means adoptable cats have likely been euthanized at the shelter under the current policy for no other reason but being labeled as “potentially feral”.  

In 2019, 734 stray cats were taken in by the Carrollton Animal Shelter, 251 of those cats, or 34%, were killed because of their FERAL label.  They were NOT SICK, NOT INJURED, ONLY LABELED AS FERAL. This approach to feral and stray cats is not only cruel and pointless, it is also completely ineffective at stabilizing the cat population.  Our neighbors, Farmers Branch,  Addison, Dallas, as well as Ft. Worth and Arlington, and many others around us have taken this approach in their city with much success. With TNR, we can stabilize the population humanely, improve the lives of cats, save taxpayer dollars and help the entire community reach a solution that benefits everyone.  

What is it?

The Trap Neuter Return (TNR) Program provides for the reduction of the feral cat population in the City through animal sterilization instead of euthanasia.

How does it work?

Feral cats within the City are trapped, sterilized, vaccinated for rabies, and returned to the feral cat colony where they were trapped, if possible. By placing the feral cat back into the colony, it prevents other cats from entering into or effectively filling the void left by the trapped cat. Studies have proved that sterilization of over 80 percent of the feral cat within a cat colony leads to a substantial decline of the feral cat population over a few years.

What if I don't want the feral cat returned to my neighborhood?

Returning the feral cat back to its colony provides the most effective means of reducing the population of the feral cat colony over time. However, if the resident doesn't want the feral cat returned to their neighborhood, the feral cat can be relocated to other cat colonies within the City or to rural areas to serve as barn cats.

Benefits:

• Once the cats are fixed, fighting, yowling and other noise associated with mating stops almost entirely
• The foul odor caused by unaltered males spraying to mark territory disappears and the cats, no longer driven to mate, roam much less and become less visible
• The cats themselves are healthier and less likely to spread feline diseases
• Rodent control is maintained by the cats' continued presence

Please consider signing this petition (you DO NOT need to donate in order to sign petition) to send our city leaders a strong message that our community supports this approach to stray and homeless cats and feral cats, and the euthanizing of these cats are not acceptable.