Why does our Council continue to vote to take action on outdoor cats merely based on the claim of a special interest group, the Audubon Society? Councilmembers Bryant, Siegel, and Clark, vote to support their claims without any evidence or proof. Shocking. Bryant might as well be their spokesperson.

Yet now the Council has voted to count cats (I kid you not!) in North Bayshore and throughout the creeks in the City. They won't be able to tell a stray from a person's pet.

Want to know the position of the Audubon Society on outdoor cats?
They continue to employ Ted Williams (as a contractor) for their national Audubon magazine. Last year, Mr. Williams, then editor-at-large, wrote an article in the Orlando Sentinel identifying Tylenol as an effective poison for feral cats and blaming those in favor of TNR from blocking Tylenol's registration with the FDA as a feral cat poison. The Audubon Society quickly suspended Williams' contract, only to reinstate it 10 days later. Williams apologized for sullying the reputation of the Audubon Society, adding that he shouldn't have used the term Tylenol, he should have "used the generic, lesser-known name."
New York Times: Web Link
Audubon Society: Web Link
Williams' apology: Web Link
Peter Wolf (Best Friends Animal Society): Web Link and Web Link

I find it interesting that the Audubon Society channels their resources and funds on eliminating outdoor cats. Granted, cats kill birds, but it seems to me that there much larger issues than outdoor cats: global warming, rising sea levels, industrial pollution, deforestation, rapid human population growth, loss of wetlands, hydraulic fracking, and specific issues like the Keystone XL Pipeline.

So, please tell me , those city council isn't going to spend tax dollars to do this "count" of cats. How do you tell one black cat from another, so avoid cats being "counted" once, twice, or many times, to overstate the numbers? Are you going to ask the cat is it's a stray , or just a nice loved owned cat spendind some "garden time" in the sun. You KNOW that this will include owned cats, and those will become at risk at the muderious hands of the Audubon as well. The city council better stop this nonsense, and the waste of tax dollars and the publics time. Tell the Audubon and other special intrests groups to go back to doing what they do, and LET the animal control agency Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority (SVACA) and PAHS, the local non-profit, to do what they do best, which is to contol the population by humane methods. The shelter is doing A GREAT job at managing the cat population in MV, as VERY, VERY few stray cats are brought into the sheler from Mt.View, as compared to other cities, and the shelter has acheieve an amazing nearly 90% SAVE (or Live Release Rate) for all of the animals (dogs and cats, and small critters combined) that enter their doors. SVACA is doing a great job as the animal control "AUTHORITY" for the city of Mt. View, so why doesnt' the council just let them do thier paid job, which they do well, and tell the rest of the folks that have and "opinion" (and that about it, an opinion" to just butt out? LET animal control do thier job, council !! And stop catering to your special interest friends at Audubon, or you won't get my vote next time around.

The Audubon Society is just thinking WAY TOO HARD. Here is their mission statement:

"To conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity."

Who cares about the "natural ecosystem?" We need to preserve the life and liberty of every cat in Mountain View!

Did you know hunters with shotguns are allowed in Shoreline Park during duck hunting season? Why shouldn't cats get to use that area as their hunting grounds too? The feral cat feeding stations we put down will keep their energy up so they can enjoy their hunts, just like the cafe and restaurant in the park for people and golfers.

Please write the city council and insist that the task force be appointed with only those in the cat rescue groups. We don't need any over-educated scientists trying to confuse us with all of these so-called studies and facts.

decide on whether or not we continue to allow a NON-NATIVE bird predator to continue decimating the bird population.

After reading this will anyone doubt that promoting and perpetuating the abhorrently inhumane suffering of animals isn't a highly lucrative business today? (If you further doubt, just ask the board-members and CEO's of HSUS, SPCA, and PetSmart while standing in-line next to them at their bank-teller windows.)

Can you spell "Hoax" & "Fraud"?

These TNR cat-lickers (criminal outdoor-cat-hoarders) who re-spew all the highly manipulative and deceptive lies and misinformation of Alley-Cat-All-Lies didn't do their due-diligence research.

Here's the very first link that any of their followers and supporters should have checked out.

bbb D0T org SLASH charity-reviews/national/animal-protection/alley-cat-allies-in-bethesda-md-107/financial

They don't even meet the criteria to qualify for being a reputable charity organization under "Better Business Bureau" standards. While Becky and all her close friends are laughing all the way to the bank to the tune of $5M in assets with a $6M income.

They all flew to Hawaii not long ago for another "cat-conference" because, for some unknown reason, they had to be there to discuss these issues. (I wonder how many cats could have been saved from freezing to the pavement this last winter from the price of all their flights and lodging and luxurious food, drink, and entertainment in Hawaii? But these TNR group-leaders were so warm and having so much fun!)

For another good laugh check out how much Becky and her friend pay themselves with everyone else's money.

bbb D0T org SLASH charity-reviews/national/animal-protection/alley-cat-allies-in-bethesda-md-107/governance-and-staff

They have now been launching some damage-control with their new "Future Five" program to prove to everyone their true and trustworthy intentions. Awarding a princely $5,000 grant to some deserving group. $5,000 is only 0.1% of their assets, 0.08% of their yearly income. They might as well just sh** in the face of every last fool that ever donated to them.

Support yet another organization that exploits and perpetuates the suffering of animals for their own personal financial gain, then try to sleep well at night.

This is even more "rich". I recently discovered that anyone who posts a request for financial help on Alley-Cat-All-Lies Facebook pages is then referred to this page of theirs: alleycat D0T org SLASH economy

Not ONE link on that page refers to getting actual financial help from Alley-Cat-All-Lies themselves. And even more rich, their very first resource that they send people to, to feed their feral cats, is a national food-bank organization where people donate food to feed needy humans. They are taking the food out of the mouths of needy human infants to feed their diseased vermin cats.

I don't think I've seen a sadder and more sorry and despicable case of "charity" in my whole life before this.

Here's another good TNR facts site that was put up not long ago.

tnrfactcheck D0T org SLASH tnr-handbook D0T html

There are tomes of links and information there that give to everyone the clearest picture of all of what their failure of self-serving TNR-delusions are really all about. Not to mention what every last TNR advocate disrespectfully does to every other life on the planet, animal and human included. Everyone involved in TNR might be particularly pleased with the photos there of what their loving euthanasia by "attrition" truly looks like.

I hope they enjoy it. Everyone else on the planet sees them for what they truly are, torturers of all animal life on earth -- just because they are too spineless and heartless to give a cat a humane death, the one time when they could have died peacefully that way. Heartless and cruel doesn't even begin to describe these TNR cat-lickers.

Here's some data from the State showing the infitsimal chances of contracting rabies from a cat in this state.
Over the past 7 years, only 4 cases of cat rabies have been reportd in the entire state.
That would be 4. None of them even close to the Bay area.
Less than 2 caes on average for an entire year, over the entire state.
An actual threat or an actual problem would require more cases than.
Please post the link showing the threat. I'm posing mine showing there is such a minimal threat that it does not warrant drastic action.
Here it is from the CA Dept of Public health:
Web Link

Due to TNR practices (trap, neuter, re-abandon), cats are now the #1 domesticated animal to transmit rabies to humans (the cats testing positive after a bite, scratch, or attack). You are 4 times more likely to get rabies from a free-roaming cat than any other domesticated animal.

GIVING A RABIES SHOT TO A CAT THAT ALREADY HAS RABIES DOES NOT CURE IT OF RABIES -- NOR DOES IT STOP THE CAT FROM TRANSMITTING RABIES UP TO 11 MONTHS LATER (during the last 2 weeks of its life when it might not even show any recognizable symptoms). Google for: RABID KITTEN ADOPTED WAKE COUNTY (for just one example of hundreds of vetted but rabid cats adopted from outdoors). The incubation period for rabies is, on average, from 21 to 240 days, sometimes up to 11 months, one rare case being 6 years. A vetted cat can STILL transmit rabies many months later if it was harvested from unknown living conditions with an unknown vaccination history. Is your liability insurance in excess of $10M? Either quarantine them for 6 or more months at your OWN expense (as required by national and international law), or euthanize them. Those are your only 2 options to be relatively certain you are not handing rabies to someone. Isn't reality fun?

This is why the CDC has now given the following conclusion and warnings on all TNR practices that are becoming so popular (with people who are uneducated to how vaccinations actually work and are causing rabies outbreaks in so many communities). Do you have your liability insurance ready to go and top-notch lawyers lined-up for when people who get bit or scratched by your cats discover you are in direct violation of findings by the CDC itself? They'll all be ready to sue you, all associated with you, your local lawmakers, township, and county for $millions in damages.

Conclusions on all TNR practices now direct from the CDC
http://onlinelibrary.wiley D0T com SLASH doi/10.1111/zph.12070/abstract

Summary

Domestic cats are an important part of many Americans' lives, but effective control of the 60-100 million feral cats living throughout the country remains problematic. Although trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) programmes are growing in popularity as alternatives to euthanizing feral cats, their ability to adequately address disease threats and population growth within managed cat colonies is dubious. Rabies transmission via feral cats is a particular concern as demonstrated by the significant proportion of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis associated with exposures involving cats. Moreover, TNVR has not been shown to reliably reduce feral cat colony populations because of low implementation rates, inconsistent maintenance, and immigration of unsterilized cats into colonies. For these reasons, TNVR programmes are not effective methods for reducing public health concerns or for controlling feral cat populations. Instead, responsible pet ownership, universal rabies vaccination of pets and removal of strays remain integral components to control rabies and other diseases.

(end summary)

To be perfectly truthful: Even vaccinating your cat against rabies won't prevent it from finding the nearest rabid bat dying on the ground in your backyard, to rip it to shreds for its daily cat's play-toy. Then bringing back a mouthful or claws full of fresh rabies virus to you, your family, neighbors, other pets, or other animals. ANY cat, due to their need to sink their teeth into anything that moves, if allowed outdoors can transmit rabies to others, vaccinated or not.

Why not work together with TNR advocates as happened in Foster City. There is no real evidence of cats spreading rabies. This is an obvious scare tactic, and while cats can contract the disease is isn't happening in California.

As for toxoplasmosis, why is there no evidence of the problems alleged?

Audubon sent me an email stating that "up to 1 billion birds are killed by window strikes". They use whatever number they want however it suits them. Man is the problem, not cats.

Dear "Reseacher",

You scare me. Perhaps you are the one that has Rabies? As I can totally picture you ranting and raving, and frothing at the mouth.


You scare me WAY more than my garden cat does! And you crazies behavior is a bigger threat to mankind, if you ask me. I hope you don't own weapons of any kind.

Can someone PLEASE trap & sterilize "TNR Reseacher"? I'm not kidding !

I'm more concerned the an individual that is as angry and violent, "TNR Reaseacher" is living in my neighborhood. The cats never bother me. But this crazy human behavior certainly does!

Maybe the city council should stop worrying about "counting cats ", and provide mental Heath help for people like "TNR Reseacher" instead. They are the real danger to society. Not a few cats eating a few birds. Cats have been around 100's of years and birds have too. So, stop worrying about them. They are fine. It's people that are breeding out if control and are using up and destroying all the habitat . So, hand out birth control and stop humans from breeding !

While it is true that overpopulation of humans is the #1 problem that we and all other species face today (humans are a classified as a "weedy species", but they ARE NOT an "invasive species", please educate your sorry-a**ed bible-home-schooled selves); this still doesn't excuse all the responsible, wise, and intelligent people from stopping all the ecological disasters caused by those phenomenally stupid and criminally negligent people who should have never been born in the very first place. (You know, cat-licking MORONS just like you fools.)

Cats are a man-made (through selective breeding) invasive species. And as such, cats being a product of man, are no less of a man-made environmental disaster than any oil-spill, radiation-fallout, chemical-spill, or other environmental disaster _caused_by_man_. Cats are not exempt from being removed from every natural environment, wherever and whenever they are found away from supervised confinement. Just as you would destroy Burmese Pythons and African Cichlids in every habitat where they exist in N. America. They started out as pets too. Many of our destructive invasive species pests started out as PETS discarded by criminally-irresponsible humans. Guess what happens to all those other non-native pets that became destructive invasive species? They are destroyed on-site by any means possible -- no questions asked -- none required.

Cats are even worse than a multi-continent-sized oil-spill. They not only kill off rare marine-mammals along all coastlines (just as oil-spills do) from run-off from the land carrying cats' Toxoplasma gondii parasites, they also destroy the complete food-chain in every ecosystem where cats are found. From smallest of prey that is gutted and skinned alive, wasted for cats' tortured play-toys, up to the top predators -- starved to death from cats destroying their ONLY foods. (Precisely what cats caused on my own lands not long ago.) They destroy everything that moves. They will even destroy native vegetation by destroying those animals that are pollinators or act as seed dispersers for those plants (as many rodent and bird species do) or those acting as plants' pest-control. Cats can and will wipe out whole ecosystems -- animal and plant.

Cats need to disappear from all natural habitats PERMANENTLY, eventually, somehow. And the sooner the better. They are breeding out of control at an exponential rate. The reason for "sooner the better" is that you can only hope you can halt the problem before it is beyond the reach of any method you eventually choose. Luckily, I caught the problem in time where I live (by humanely shooting and burying every last cat I saw, hundreds, collared or not, totally LEGAL). Though I had plenty of native predators (owls, fox, hawks, etc.) available in surrounding non-cat-infested areas that eventually repopulated my lands so as to not cause any explosions of unwanted species and further imbalance. (I estimate that about 1 returning or 1 never-seen-before native species have been populating my lands PER DAY for the last 4 years since every last cat is gone. That's a LOT of species that cats destroyed or starved-to-death during their 2 decades infestation on my lands. People who have cats around have no idea just how bereft and empty their lives have truly become.)

It seems nobody else is faring as well. Their time is being wasted by cat-lickers stopping them from doing the right thing. Asking or listening to any deranged invasive-species advocate for advice on how to clean up the ecological disaster that they created and perpetuate is about as useful as asking your local career thieves for their advice and help to hide your valuables from their daily motives and activities. Ignore anything they might say and you too will solve the problem where you live. They ARE the problem, they cannot be part of the solution. The very moment that cat-lickers, who cause the problem, are cut from the solution-equation it instantly solves itself.

It worked 100% where I live. I've not seen even ONE cat for over 4 years now. (Also totally disproving that cat-lickers' deceptive and manipulative "vacuum effect" lie and myth.)

I have lost complete respect for the Audubon Society . I used to donate to them, but no longer do.

They are militant. And use threats, manipulation, non-scientific falsified data, and scare tactics to get their way.

MC City Council - I urge you NOT to have a representative of the Audubon on the working group, unless you can SOMEHOW find a rep, that is fair, and open minded to 1.) determining if there really is a problem with outside cats in Mt. View (which I believe there isn't a real "problem" at all, so before spending ANY more time on this, let figure that out first !

I will venture to guess that 95% of MV residents don't see this as a problem. Only the Audubon does.

So city council - stop catering to "special interest" groups like the Audubon Society , and spend our tax dollars on issues that effect us all, like jobs, and the horribly high cost and lack of housing in our area.

Sorry owls, we need housing

It’s clear this is an “Opinion” piece with a very specific agenda, rather than reporting trying to present the facts of the matter. Perhaps we could hear a name as to who the author of this opinion piece is, so as to better judge their qualifications and biases?

There is no problem with stray or feral cats killing birds in Shoreline – human development, such as the large expansion of office space in Shoreline advocated by the same MV Council, is responsible for far more wildlife death than predators. Those advocating for the elimination of cats have yet to provide a single piece of evidence as to their guilt in the reduction in numbers of these birds.

The MV Council and their staff have repeatedly been shown evidence from multiple sources that cats do not pose a disease problem in California, that licensing is actually counter-productive, and that a TNR program reduces the number of stray and feral cats and reduces costs to those cities in which it is implemented – yet for some reason they continue to support the baseless statements made by the Audubon Society.

I do not understand why the council is listening so intently to paid lobbyists from a national society, when their own residents, local cat rescue groups, and their own rescue organization SVACA do not support or directly oppose these measures. There has not been a single Mountain View resident stand up in public, at the council sessions, and make their support for the Audubon Society’s measures known – yet there have been many residents vocally opposed. Even the author of this opinion piece remains anonymous.

Cat Rescue groups in the area want to work to preserve all the wildlife, cats and birds, yet are faced with an intransigent Audubon Society who will consider nothing less than the death of every cat in the area, it seems. Speaking to them is like speaking to a religious fanatic, where there is no compromise – thank you “TNR Researcher” for showing in your “argument” the type of opposition faced.

Extermination of all cats because they may carry disease? Your facts are misleading, and if any wildlife transfer disease, it is birds, for example with West Nile Virus – yet Cat Rescue groups do not advocate for the wholesale extermination of birds, since we are sane, balanced, rational individuals who respect all wildlife and look for reasonable solutions to problems.

I put my name to this response as a 15 years resident of Mountain View who is disturbed by the Council’s willingness to listen to these out-of-state lobbyists, who meet in secret, will not publicly discuss their agenda, and to deliberately ignore and sometimes belittle the opinions of the residents they are supposed to represent.

Will any Mountain View residents stand up and put their name to the plan to count, then exterminate, all the cats in the Shoreline area? Or for the author of this piece to stand up and be counted? I’m sure we will hear nothing but silence to those requests.

Mountain View Council, please listen to your residents and move onto issues that are truly impacting the lives of your residents – such as the lack of new housing, skyrocketing rents, poor transportation infrastructure, and the expansion of retail space in multiple city locations.

This has been studies and the conclusion is that parks that have feral cat feeding stations have fewer birds than parks where feeding and release of feral cats are prohibited. This is consistent with the other studies and the experiences of wildlife biologists.

What vested interest do the wildlife scientists have to lie about this?

The car advocates have a very clear interest. They wish to promote the welfare of cats over every other living animal. The council should listen to the rescu groups and then weight their unscientific opinions accordingly.

Dear 'Science'

I'm very interested to read this study. Please provide a citation, or better yet a link. If you're going to quote evidence, the 'scientific' way of doing that is to allow others to check the source material for themselves, otherwise it's usually considered irrelevant.

Many thanks.

This has been researched recently and the results are clear.
Web Link

You stated you had studies, real research, and I thought with a name like 'Science' and 'Researcher' you would know the value of actual study and research not opinion. The 'researchers' on that website have the following credentials, and I quote from their biographies on that page:

1) A researcher into the "nature of consciousness"
2) "conservation photographer"

They are not biologists, scientists, or researchers. I do applaud their efforts to support wildlife in the area, but don't send a weblink like that and claim it's substantial research. It is not.

Research these two methods:

1) Trapping highly destructive invasive species animals that breed faster than they can be trapped and also out-adapt to any trapping methods known.

2) Hunted to extinction. Or in the case of cats, hunted to extirpation in all areas that it is found roaming free.

Then tell us which one actually works and which one is more cost effective.

I assure you that you'll find plenty of evidence that only the second method actually works. It is also the only method that is affordable by any individual, any community, any continent; no matter the species, no matter how fast they breed.

My costs for the latter came to 3 cats per PENNY. I got 5000 rounds of .22s on a close-out sale for only $15. That's hundreds of cats that were sterilized, all vaccinated against all diseases (to which many don't even have vaccines yet), and all given a permanent and "loving forever home" 2-3ft. deep. All that for less than the price of a couple cups of coffee. Only $0.003 per cat. On top of that, it was a PERMANENT solution. If need be, I might have to reapply a $0.003 cost once every other year if some cat owner is now astoundingly foolish enough to let their cat wander around in the area. But then the cat population is back to ZERO for the cost of $0.003. Back to a permanent fix for $0.003 every other year (but it's been over 4 years now since I've seen even one cat, so that is an overestimate in favor of the the phenomenally stupid cat-lickers).

Like I said, you've made yourselves into nothing but laughable little shown-'n-tell puppets to perfectly prove my point -- this can ONLY be solved without you now.

Thanks!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have other sites where I must show everyone that you can't be changed, you won't change, and you'll continue to destroy all life on earth with your vermin cats. You're everywhere (for now). And that the only solution is to rapidly destroy every last one of your cats that you use to manipulate everyone around you.

You've been great show-'n-tell puppets. Thanks for playing. Do it for the next person, I'm sure you will. LOL

The proof that TNR works is in the Santa Clara County and other local shelter statistics.

25% fewer stray cats and kittens have been brought into to our local shelter over the last few years, due to high-volume TNR effort, which slows the breeding and reduce the number of litters of kittens born each year.

After the 25% initiial reduction, the shelters are continuing to see a continued 5 to 8% reduction in cats entering shelters each subsequent year.

These trends show that trapping & fixing all out door cats (tame or feral), encouraging residents to spay/neuter their owned pets and all and any they feed, and encouraging folks when they adopt cats to keep them indoor only, IS working. These combined techniques are working. And they are working very well.

Public education is the key here. The city of Mt. View should promote responsibile pet ownership, and promote and encourage Spay/Neutering of all pets (either owned, or those allowed to roam outside) and encourage people to adopt from local shelter (which take in and rehome outdoor cats).

Outreach and continued education to the public is the key.

By getting more people to spay their own pets (whether they be indoor/outdoor, or both), and to tnr ANY and ALL cats they feed outdoors, we have already been successful and have lowered the number of cats and kittens taken to local shelter by 25% over the last 3 years ! Now , that is progress ! And that SAVES the city and taxpayers money.

So, let what is working in Mt. View, keep working !!

If we keep going at a 8 to 10% continued reduction rate, as has been demonstated in the local shelter statistics, we will actually be able to acheive what bird-lover and cat-lovers alike are BOTH striving for….FEWER free-roaming cats !

We are almost there folks, so encourage residents to keep working TOGETHER, and not get side-tracked by "special interest group" nonsense and radical threats and behavior (such as that demontrated so nicely by "TNR Researcher"), and continue to work together, as community residents, to continue on the path that HAS been working.


Let your trusted animal shelter do the good work they have been doing, and pretty soon any so-called problems will get resolved. They are using best practices and are innovative and proactively responding to residents and are doing a great job ! Let them continue, without distraction, from national lobbyist. Local residents know what they want. Are are getting great service.

If it ain't broke council, then don't fix it, right?

We put too much energy into producing and listening to all the opposing views, when in reality bird-folk (who love all animals) and cat-folk (who love all wildlife) really are ON the SAME SIDE, we both want FEWER free-roaming cats, and those out there to finds homes !

So, let’s stop the silly back and forth fighting,(and dangerous, scary talk about harming cats, and people...ahem, TNR Reseacher)and work on this together, to identify hot spots, so we can practively address any issue that surface, and so that we can get to where we want to be, which is to arrive in a place where all species of animals are protected and treated humanely.

The proof is in the stats. And the local stats are showing strong, positive trends. So, lets focus on that and keep doing what is ALREADY working for the city (instead of counting cats! How silly) and save the tax dollars, to do other more important things for the city, like to address jobs, housing, urban sprawl, cutting of trees, and loss of wildlife habitat.

@TNR_Researcher

If you are such an authority, my don't you tell us your name instead of hiding behind a pseudonym.

What tells me you are totally full of scat is you saying you bought 5000rds of 22 ammo for $15. Nobody "closes out" 22 ammo. There has been a nationwide shortage for over a year now. $15 will barely buy you 100rds, if you are lucky.

If you really want to save birds in MV, those little tweety singing kind, then kill off those nasty ugly black ones. Just yesterday a crow destroyed the nest of some small song birds that was perched on my satellite dish. It was quite a commotion as those little guys fought helplessly against the crow. Later I found the nest strewn about the yard with no sign of eggs or babies.

Two weeks ago a crow destroyed a squirrel nest in our city tree and was pecking at the baby squirrel in the street.

Let's get rid of the crows.

I'm another local cat lover. Please, STOP clouding this issue with remarks about local shelters and cats in cities (the core issue, instead, is wilfully releasing cats in an undeveloped wildlife region where they're not native). Stop making armchair assertions about what's "working." Stop playing prove-it-to-me-while-I-stand-on-one-foot games. Stop name-calling people who post references here to real scientific studies raising questions nationwide about re-releasing feral cats. Plenty of serious evidence about the problems of feral-cat release has been cited on this and related threads, and the reaction to these citations is name-calling, which is itself revealing of the mind-sets at work.

"Resident" in the other current thread commented further on a mind-set at work here, about releasing feral cats REGARDLESS of costs to themselves and other species:

"I trapped ferals in the area for a year but got so disgusted with the groups ethics. they insisted that if we trap a cat that looked ill that we should just release it so it wouldnt be put down. i love cats but this is not healthy so i quit. those cats keep breeding and maybe have disease."