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As soon as County Attorney Willie Darby began a public hearing to decide the fate of thousands of cats in Durham on the night of July 11, it was clear where most people stood: A majority of the nearly 40 people in attendance nodded as he read off proposed amendments to the Durham County Animal Control Ordinance. With teary eyes and shaky voices, proponents of the changes persuaded the County Board of Commissioners to unanimously pass the amendments, 5-0, all but outlawing euthanasia for community cats.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Highlights of the changes to the ordinance include establishing a TNVR program (trap, neuter, vaccinate and return) for abandoned and stray cats\u2014now legally known as community cats\u2014which would be euthanized only if they’re sick and unlikely to recover. Under the changes, non-profits would administer the program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing now, it\u2019s just \u2014 it\u2019s not working,\u201d said Wendy Jacobs, vice chair of the Board. \u201cWe need to do something different; this is a community problem that needs a community-based solution. I really look forward to the next steps.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The amendments’ supporters argue that administering neutering and vaccination services to community cats will reduce their population. Anything short of this is inhumane, they say. Opponents are unsure whether the legislation will fulfill its purpose, arguing that ending euthanasia and trap programs could harm the local bird population, as cats are predators.<\/span><\/p>\n Currently, there are nearly 60,000 community cats in Durham, Jacobs says. The cost of euthanizing them all would be $120 million. The county spent $70,000 in 2021 on euthanizing around 350 cats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is not something that we\u2019re gonna solve tonight. It\u2019s not something that can be solved in one ordinance,\u201d said the hearing\u2019s first speaker, Danielle Bays, a senior analyst for Cat Protection Policy at the Humane Society of the United States. \u201cBut it\u2019s not going to be solved by continuing down the path that Durham is on now.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Handgun in her pocket and hair in a bun, Lt. Wendy Pinner, of animal services at the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, matter-of-factly told the audience that her department traps animals only when Durham County residents request removal from their property. And because they recently paused the animal trapping program due to overcrowding at the Animal Protection Society shelter, she has had many \u201cfrustrated\u201d and \u201cangry\u201d citizens come into her office.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe had one address in Treyburn [a neighborhood in north Durham] where we received 171 calls for services to trap animals,\u201d she said after stressing that the sheriff\u2019s office is not staffed to carry out trapping.<\/span><\/p>\n Andrew Hutson, Vice President of the National Audubon Society and Executive Director of Audubon North Carolina, and Barbara Driscoll, president of New Hope Audubon Society, also opposed the amendments.<\/span><\/p>\n Hutson, who represented 2,000 members of the Audubon Society in Durham, said that the trapping and vaccination program \u201cfails on all accounts\u201d because it is \u201cnearly impossible for 100% of cats to be trapped and vaccinated.\u201d He added that \u201ccats also have toxoplasmosis\u201d \u2014 a disease that comes from a parasite found in cat feces\u00a0 \u2014 and kill more than two billion birds yearly in the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n Driscoll restated Hutson\u2019s claims that the programs have failed to reduce populations and added that it makes \u201cabandonment by pet owners easier.\u201d She worried that these efforts would make it harder to have a \u201cmore bird-friendly Durham.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n On the other side, Shafonda Allen, executive director of the Animal Protection Society of Durham, a local shelter, told the Board how much work the community is willing to put into protecting these cats.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n For instance, Susan Elmore, a veterinarian for Independent Animal Rescue (IAR), a local non-profit that provides homes for unwanted cats and dogs, is already helping cats for free. (She was among those who spayed and neutered roughly 1,500 cats at IAR and at Orange County Animal Shelter and Durham County Animal Shelter last year.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe realized now the reality is that we have these community cats. But if we spay and neuter, their numbers will go down,\u201d Elmore, a veterinary anatomic pathologist in Chapel Hill who attended the public hearing, said in an interview with The 9th Street Journal. \u201cAnd we have seen this done successfully in many counties in North Carolina and in many states in the country. So this isn\u2019t new ground that we\u2019re breaking, you know, this is a tried and true method of taking care of the community cat population.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Before Allen\u2019s two minutes were up, she asked everyone in the room, \u201cwho is in support of the Animal Welfare Committee\u2019s ordinance changes to allow TNVR in Durham\u201d to stand. The majority of the room stood up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThese are your citizens; these are your voters,\u201d Allen said. \u201cEveryone here is willing to do something to help with this problem. They notice this doing more, not less. And for every person that calls, that wants them just removed and doesn\u2019t know they will die, there are more who are willing to help them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Above: Shafonda Allen, executive director of the Animal Protection Society of Durham, testifies before the Durham County Board of Commissioners on July 11th. Later in the evening, a majority of the audience stood up to indicate their support for ending euthanasia for abandoned and stray cats. Photos by Ana Young–<\/strong>The 9th Street Journal.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As soon as County Attorney Willie Darby began a public hearing to decide the fate of thousands of cats in Durham on the night of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[301,72],"class_list":["post-7970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-government","tag-animal-control","tag-county-commissioners","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/IMG_2134-300x200.jpg\")
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