Dear Supervisor Mandelman: 

I am writing to express my disappointment in the way things are currently handled by S.F. Animal Care and Control (ACC). For almost 20 years my partner John Rockwell and I trapped feral cats and kittens and brought them in for fostering at ACC or spay/neuter surgery at the S.F. SPCA in order to help the City control its feral cat population and get the kittens into loving homes. I currently have two of those kittens as well as one “feral” mom cat who turned out to be sweet, loving, and grateful for the safety of indoor life as my pets. I have had numerous other adopted pets over the years. 

Our biggest challenge was setting up the traps so we could catch our intended subject(s) as efficiently as possible. We would find a position for the trap within eyesight but far enough away that we wouldn’t scare the cat, and then the wait began. Sometimes, we’d have success within minutes, and other times we’d be at a site for hours, patiently waiting for the cat to finally enter the trap. 

It never crossed our minds that the next step, getting the kittens into the foster system or the parental cats into feral fix would be difficult. Sometimes we trapped multiple cats, like at the huge recycling plant at Pier 96. Trapping the cat was the hard part; the rest was easy. We took them into ACC, and the kittens were put up for foster care, regardless of their exact age, until they were big enough for spay/neuter surgery and adoption. The adults went to “feral fix.” We’d pick them up after their surgery and keep them overnight for recovery, sometimes longer if needed, and then release them back to their home in the community. Often, we’d end up checking the kittens in at the front desk, quickly get them medically evaluated and bring them home with us to foster. 

Now there are so many barriers that the system seems to serve only a small percentage of the animals in need. There is absolutely no reason for this to continue. There are dozens of volunteers ready, willing and able to do their part to reduce the community cat population. Why won’t ACC help us like they used to? Why won’t ACC serve the public as their mission statement suggests? Please, please take this seriously and help us restore what used to be an exemplary system that served the community so well. 

Thank you, 

Linda Garrett