Annotated Bibliography HELP!

TO: Dr. Sharman Elison, President & Clinic Director

FROM:

RE: Oahu Feral Cat Overpopulation

DATE: August 23, 2015

Observation

The Hawaiian Islands, especially Oahu, needs to take action and stop feral cats from reproducing. Feral cats and dogs are stray or abandoned pets that have been raised with zero human contact. These animals rapidly develop colonies where shelter and food are accessible. There are cities, states, and counties that will occasionally handle feral dogs but will never consider feral cats. There are over 70 million feral cats that live in the United States alone and there are little to no actions being taken to stop the feral cat population from expanding. Previously in the 1990’s, people were actually taking a stance for feral cats. There were mass sterilization programs that existed rather than killing feral cats after they had been moved to animal shelters. Feral cats are being put down because people see that these cats are a threat to public health but do not consider neutering and spaying as many feral cats as possible every year in order to keep the population from expanding. There are too many feral cats for nature to support.

Improvement

Developing programs for yearly spaying and neutering to occur for feral cats and funding will help improve this issue. It is definitely time to put an end to those who catch and kill in order to solve the solution. The TNR method is the most effective and efficient way to stop feral cat expansion. In order to approach stray and feral cats and be successful, they will have to be trapped. After the cats are caught, they can then be taken to Haiku Veterinary Clinic for sterilization and vaccination. Once the cats have recovered from sterilization they can be released and returned. The Haiku Veterinary Clinic can also keep friendly kittens and cats that may be adopted into new homes.

Action Plan

October 16th is known to be National Feral Cat Day and has become vastly popular throughout the United States. Because the day is dedicated to supporting the education of feral cats and TNR methods, October 16th will become the target date to trap, neuter, and release feral cats on Oahu.

A fund raising program must be developed in order to cover the costs of sterilization. This fund raising program should consist of volunteers who are ambitious and motivated to increase the safety of public health and provide feral cats with a healthier lifestyle.

Benefits

Sterilization of feral cats alone will benefit the environment by decreasing the threat of public health every year. The stop in feral cat expansion and decrease of population will also allow beautiful birds, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and other prey to not be strictly hunted.

It is absolutely guaranteed that yearly TNR (Trap, Neuter and Release) methods are the most humane and smart way to handle the expansion of feral cats and also uses the least public resources. Not only will communities be satisfied, but there will be no further public health concerns about the overpopulation.

The reputation and popularity of Haiku Veterinary Clinic will increase rapidly. Pet owners will most likely adopt and visit shelters and veterinary clinics that are dedicated to helping animals in need.

Cost

The costs for spaying and neutering cats and dogs in Oahu are outrageous alone and are solely for company profits and yet none of the veterinary clinics in Oahu consider setting up a program to sterilize feral cats and dogs once a year.

With the help of funding and local volunteers to help raise money, most of the cost would be covered for specific amounts of feral cats to be sterilized.

I would like to set up a meeting in order to discuss more information with you about the overpopulation of feral animals in Oahu. Please contact me with a date and time in which is most suitable to your schedule.