SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The South Orange Board of Health announced at its Sept. 17 meeting that it intends to form a subcommittee to explore the possibility of adopting a Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Manage program, thereby reconsidering its previous position that the village should not pursue such an initiative for fear that allowing feral cats to remain on the streets will lead to the spread of disease.
BOH member Antonio Thomas said the board, which has sole authority to approve a TNVM program, will “probably” create a subcommittee consisting of Health Officer John Festa, Animal Control Officer Melanie Troncone, one board member and two members of the public to contemplate solutions to the village’s feral cat problem, including TNVM. Thomas said the group will likely meet over the next few months, all the while reporting its progress back to the rest of the health board.
“This is not something that’s going to be solved overnight,” Thomas said. “But I think that’s a start.”
The announcement came after Jane Guillaume, executive director of animal-welfare organization People for Animals, made a presentation urging the board to adopt TNVM as an effective and humane way to reduce the feral cat population in South Orange. Guillaume explained that many animal lovers like herself do not want to see cats on the street, but ferals have a right to live just as squirrels and other neighborhood dwellers do. TNVM is the best way to control the issue of overpopulation, she said, as the village’s current methods of removing them from residential areas and fining anyone who feeds them will not help in the long run.
“Is what you’re doing now working? I don’t think it is because we wouldn’t be here discussing it if that were true,” Guillaume said. “This is an opportunity to explore a different approach that may be more successful. There is very little in life that’s guaranteed. But this is a program that has worked when it’s been implemented well and managed well in a number of municipalities.”
Guillaume explained that the root of the problem is the high number of feral cats within the community. Using a mathematical model, she estimated that South Orange has around 1,000 feral cats. To stabilize the population, the village would have to remove 75 percent, or approximately 750 cats, every year or the feral cats will just reproduce enough to make up the difference, she said. And as the executive director pointed out, that is quite a lot for Troncone to handle alone.
As for why the village’s feeding ban will not work, Guillaume said it is a misconception that cats stay in an area and reproduce because they are being fed — they settle in places they find suitable for survival long before anyone starts feeding them. Once settled, they become territorial, she explained; that means if they are not being fed, they will remain on their home turf and find food through other means, such as scrounging through garbage cans. She added that they will also continue to reproduce even when malnourished, which leads to an increased number of dead kittens.
Additionally, Guillaume pointed out that many animal lovers continue feeding feral cats even when a ban is in place, resorting to discreet methods such as leaving plates of food out at night. The problem with that, she said, is the food will also attract other wild animals to the neighborhood, which could spread disease. She said just the fact that the cats are not being fed as much will cause them to become sickly, which may spread disease as well.
Also, Guillaume warned that feral cats should not be taken in as house pets.
“Just like you wouldn’t want a wild raccoon or a wild skunk in someone’s home, you wouldn’t want a feral cat because it’s not safe,” Guillaume said. “There are people out there who work with feral cats trying to socialize them, but it’s a long process. It’s not a quick fix, and with the numbers of cats out there it’s not always an alternative that we can do on a large scale.”
With that said, Guillaume recommended establishing a TNVM program for South Orange in which feral cats are humanely captured, spayed or neutered, vaccinated and released back to the area in which they were found, where they will be monitored by trained caretakers. She also suggested adopting a TNVM ordinance like the one in Hillside — where People for Animals acts as the town’s program sponsor — that prohibits the abandonment and roaming of reproduction-capable pets off the owner’s property and requires anyone who feeds a feral cat to get it spayed or neutered and vaccinated, among other measures.
To best manage the TNVM program, Guillaume suggested the sponsor-based approach in which an organization is appointed to oversee the program and its caretakers; Maplewood is currently taking this approach with the nonprofit Furry Hearts in a three-year pilot program.
She said the sponsor organization, typically a nonprofit, would provide training and assistance to caretakers, maintain records with reports to the town, respond to complaints and fundraise to help support the program financially. That way, she said South Orange is saved a lot of administrative and animal-control work. And while town funding is always helpful, she said the sponsor can otherwise be funded through grants, donations and cat-licensing fees.
By doing all of this, Guillaume said South Orange will see fewer cats roaming the streets as feral cats will no longer have the ability to reproduce and friendly adult strays and kittens can be removed and adopted.
“So you’ll have an immediate reduction in the number of cats that are out there,” Guillaume said.
Neutering cats through the TNVM program will also result in fewer nuisance complaints regarding feral cats, because many of the problems associated with them — including smell, noise and roaming — are caused by mating, Guillaume said. People will be less likely to be exposed to diseases like rabies since the cats will be vaccinated, she said. Plus, the executive director added, residents will be able to locate lost pets more easily since caretakers closely monitor the cats for which they care, while the village will get a better sense of how many feral cats are actually present in the community.
And TNVM really does work, according to Guillaume, who pointed to Hillside as an example. In the first six months of its program, she said the town saw a 28-percent reduction in the registered cat colonies. In that time she said PFA responded to only nine complaints from residents as the program sponsor, and in each case the problem was resolved without further incident. The executive director explained that PFA works with the Hillside Board of Health to enforce the TNVM ordinance, issuing fines to anyone not in compliance.
Len Twist, who oversees Kearny’s TNVM program, said during the public comment portion of the meeting that he has also experienced “huge progress,” reporting a 50-percent reduction in the number of cats in November through December of 2014, compared to the previous year, and a 60-percent reduction during the first quarter of 2015. A one-time dumping ground for cats in the town’s industrial section has even been reduced to less than 12 cats that still need to be fixed, he said.
“It’s been working tremendously,” Twist said, adding that his program has grown to include 37 caregivers working in various capacities. “You’d be amazed at how you can get a handful of people together, and it grows and grows.”
A South Orange TNVM program would not have to look too hard for volunteers, judging from the turnout of animal lovers at the meeting. In fact, several residents stood up with signs in support of the initiative after Guillaume asked if anyone in attendance was an advocate.
Still, the board had some questions for Guillaume regarding the implementation of TNVM. Chairman Dr. David Pitman in particular seemed interested in the length of time the sponsor would have to resolve complaints of cats being on someone’s property. Guillaume explained that Hillside’s ordinance calls for a 45-day window to address issues, though she said that PFA recommends 60 days since it takes a while for cats to be deterred from an area. She said if a cat refuses to leave after the deadline, the ordinance allows for the feral cat’s removal.
Dean Kameros also questioned Guillaume on the size of cat colonies. She said colonies typically consist of six to eight cats, though they can span from two to 30. When Kameros asked about the latter number, she said that only one property in Hillside accumulated 30, and that there actually were no complaints from neighbors in that case. The crucial thing is not to place any limits on colony size, she stressed.
“If you put a limit on colony size and you require caretakers to choose which ones are going to live and which ones are going to die, they’re not going to participate in the program and you’re going to have a lot of noncompliance,” Guillaume said. “A limit on the number is a big problem.”
When asked how many caretakers would be needed to run a TNVM program, Guillaume said a village South Orange’s size would only require two to three people to oversee it. She said Hillside has one person in charge of its program, along with some volunteers.
Overall, Guillaume said TNVM is a viable solution with the potential to satisfy everyone in the community.
“This kind of a model gives equal respect to both sides of the argument — the people who want to feed the cats on their property and the ones that don’t want them in the neighborhood,” Guillaume said.
“We can try to help them keep them off their property, and it’s a humane solution that people can accept. It promotes good relations between governing bodies and their constituency,” Guillaume continued. “It’s a cooperative approach.”