They in turn repay the favor of this advantageous set-up by keeping additional cats from moving into the neighborhood as well as controlling rodent populations for their human neighbors. They typically choose their territories because of the availability of a food source and shelter. These cats typically live together in what is called a colony. This consists of adults, kittens, feral, strays, and friendly cats. That’s in addition to funds the city has already allocated for eligible homeowners who want to have their pets fixed.A community cat is an outdoor cat that is unowned and free-roaming. The new Citywide Cat Program will provide funds for the surgical sterilization of 20,000 community cats every year. These free-roaming cats, aka community cats, that grew up on the streets, are not socialized and not used to being confined, making them unlikely to be adopted from shelters, Animal Services said. Additionally, stray cats are a blight on the local ecosystem, responsible for millions of deaths of wild animals including birds, lizards and rodents every year. Millions of cats end up in shelters across the country, many of which were born on the streets. “Studies have shown that working trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs are the most humane and effective way to reduce free-roaming cat populations while saving cats’ lives and providing public health benefits.” “Caring for free-roaming cats, while working to stabilize and reduce their numbers, is one of the most complex issues facing animal shelters today,” said Annette Ramirez, Interim General Manager for LA Animal Services. The hope is that by reducing the number of intact breeding cats in the city, fewer litters will be produced and thus reducing the number of stray cats that walk the streets of L.A. The new Citywide Cat Program will provide resources to help people humanely trap, spay or neuter, and then release the stray cats back into the wild. The City of Los Angeles Department of Animal Services will help local groups and individuals in their efforts to spay and neuter free-roaming cats in the city. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.

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