Five tips for implementing or improving a TNR project for town halls
HELLO, welcome to a new post. I am sure you will find this post very useful if you work for a town council, or if you manage and/or advise on cat colonies.
Let's start by bearing in mind that when I refer to a TNR (CER or CES in Spanish) project or method, I am basically referring to the same thing: the ethical and adequate control of street cats by trapping, neutering and returning them to the place where they were captured.
1. Legislation
You have to analyse the following regulations, to see if cat colonies are regulated at regional and/or municipal level in the municipality where you would like to help to implement a TNR 3.0 project for ethical and integral management of cat colonies.
a) Regional legislation regulating the protection of pets and/or domestic animals in the autonomous region to which the municipality belongs.
b) Municipal bylaws regulating the protection of pets and/or domestic animals applicable to the municipality in question.
c) Other regulations. I recommend that you to read the article about whether it is legal for all municipalities to apply the TNR method’: www.institutodeproteccionani mal.com/es/es-legal-que-todoslos-ayuntamientos-puedan-apli car-el-metodo-c-e-r
2. Whether or not to manage cat colonies
After analysing the aforementioned applicable regulations, investigate what is being done in that municipality with cat colonies, i.e. whether there is a cat colony management project, method or plan, or not.
In case there is a municipal plan, project or method of ethical cat colony management, analyse the document which contains it, and also how it is implemented in practice. Then write down all the points that you believe could be improved.
If there is no municipal plan, project or method of ethical cat colony management, investigate what happens to these cats, whether nothing is really done with them or whether a company or entity is notified by the council to trap them - and if so, investigate the fate of these cats.
3. Public animal protection policies
Once you have seen what specific rules are applicable in that municipality to ethically manage the population of felines which live in freedom making their home in the street and/or any public or private space, continue with your research work and move to the next level.
To do this, investigate whether that municipality has public policies for animal protection which include zero euthanasia, ethical management of cat colonies, the name of the council department responsible for this matter, whether there is any political sensitivity or political interest in this matter, etc.
It is also important that you find out whether or not council staff (mayor, councillors, enforcement officers, etc.) have received specialised training in animal law, legislation applicable to cat colonies, and how to act in cases of animal abuse, as well as whether or not they have specialised legal advice available on this issue.
This article explains the need for specialised legal advice in local councils: www.institutodeproteccionanimal.com/es/la-necesidad-de-asesoramiento-juridico-especializado-en-los-ayuntamientos
In it you can see analysis of real cases in which several local councils' ethical management of cat colonies has evolved in a very positive way, simply because they have specialised legal advice available.
4. Municipal resources
Once you are clear about what is being done in that municipality to control the population of cat colonies, the specific regulations applicable, the level of political sensitivity for this matter, and the public cat protection policies being carried out, you have to continue researching and see what municipal resources are available to the council in question, both in terms of human and economic resources.
5. Political opposition
Once you have researched the above points, it is very important that you also investigate the political sensitivity of the parties that form the opposition to the current local government in question. This is because if they are sensitive to and interested in animal protection, they will be able to lobby for improvements to ethical control of cat colonies, using the TNR method.
In the online course on TNR 3.0 Projects that we teach at the animal protection institute (IPA) - www.institutode proteccionanimal.com/es/cur sos - we explain all this and much more. We also provide various template letters for you to make requests to your town hall, in writing and to the official registry, so that you can ask them to apply ethical and suitable methods to control street cats, i.e. ones that involve trapping, neutering and returning them to the place where they were captured.