Revise the inhumane "spay and release" policy for friendly, adoptable cats.
The Issue
To: Leadership and Board of Directors of the San Diego Humane Society
Re: Petition to revise the policy practiced by the San Diego Humane Society regarding “Return To Field” for friendly, adoptable cats.
We fully support the “Trap/Neuter/Release” of feral cats and cats that are deemed “unadoptable” because they are incapable of living indoors and/or being handled by humans (see Asilomar Accords below) if they have an established colony or caretaker and if there is no known threat to the health or safety of the cats.
Under a new policy called “Return to Field” (RTF) or "Shelter, Neuter, Return" (SNR), SDHS is also spaying friendly, social cats and returning them to the streets without ever giving them a chance to be adopted.
We believe that the role of Animal Services is not to just sterilize every cat that comes in as a stray and then put it back to fend for itself. The primary goal is to rescue friendly, adoptable cats from the dangers of the street and provide a safe place for them where they can find a new home.
In addition, willfully abandoning, or asking others willfully abandon an animal on your behalf is in violation of CA Penal Code 597s and more generally, every owner, driver, or keeper of any animal who permits the animal to be in any building, enclosure, lane, street, square, or lot of any city, county, city and county, or judicial district without proper care and attention is guilty of a misdemeanor. (CA PC 597.1. (a) (1)
We ask San Diego Humane Society to adopt the following policies:
1. Prohibit the release of friendly, adoptable cats, who are not classified as behaviorally “untreatable” back into the community.
2. To be considered for an RTF/SNR program, a cat must be ineligible or unlikely to be successful in an adoption program, be able to be returned to the location where found, have evidence of having been an outdoor community cat for over 30 days, be healthy and thriving, and have an established caregiver.
3. Cats who qualify as behaviorally healthy or treatable/manageable and are not established community cats with a caregiver shall be placed up for adoption.
The definitions of Unhealthy/Untreatable are listed on pages 25-32 of the San Diego Animal Welfare Coalition’s list of “Asilomar Conditions” and can be found at
https://www.sdhumane.org/assets/pdf-files/sdawc-conditions2018.pdf
The Issue
To: Leadership and Board of Directors of the San Diego Humane Society
Re: Petition to revise the policy practiced by the San Diego Humane Society regarding “Return To Field” for friendly, adoptable cats.
We fully support the “Trap/Neuter/Release” of feral cats and cats that are deemed “unadoptable” because they are incapable of living indoors and/or being handled by humans (see Asilomar Accords below) if they have an established colony or caretaker and if there is no known threat to the health or safety of the cats.
Under a new policy called “Return to Field” (RTF) or "Shelter, Neuter, Return" (SNR), SDHS is also spaying friendly, social cats and returning them to the streets without ever giving them a chance to be adopted.
We believe that the role of Animal Services is not to just sterilize every cat that comes in as a stray and then put it back to fend for itself. The primary goal is to rescue friendly, adoptable cats from the dangers of the street and provide a safe place for them where they can find a new home.
In addition, willfully abandoning, or asking others willfully abandon an animal on your behalf is in violation of CA Penal Code 597s and more generally, every owner, driver, or keeper of any animal who permits the animal to be in any building, enclosure, lane, street, square, or lot of any city, county, city and county, or judicial district without proper care and attention is guilty of a misdemeanor. (CA PC 597.1. (a) (1)
We ask San Diego Humane Society to adopt the following policies:
1. Prohibit the release of friendly, adoptable cats, who are not classified as behaviorally “untreatable” back into the community.
2. To be considered for an RTF/SNR program, a cat must be ineligible or unlikely to be successful in an adoption program, be able to be returned to the location where found, have evidence of having been an outdoor community cat for over 30 days, be healthy and thriving, and have an established caregiver.
3. Cats who qualify as behaviorally healthy or treatable/manageable and are not established community cats with a caregiver shall be placed up for adoption.
The definitions of Unhealthy/Untreatable are listed on pages 25-32 of the San Diego Animal Welfare Coalition’s list of “Asilomar Conditions” and can be found at
https://www.sdhumane.org/assets/pdf-files/sdawc-conditions2018.pdf
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on February 23, 2020