{"id":2382,"date":"2016-06-13T02:31:50","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T06:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=2382"},"modified":"2016-06-13T03:46:53","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T07:46:53","slug":"peta-gets-involved-in-seaside-heights-feral-cat-fight-volunteers-ponder-next-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2016\/06\/peta-gets-involved-in-seaside-heights-feral-cat-fight-volunteers-ponder-next-move\/","title":{"rendered":"PETA Gets Involved in Seaside Heights Feral Cat Fight, Volunteers Ponder Next Move"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Two<\/a>

Two feral cats lounge near Casino Pier in Seaside Heights. (Photo: Rachael Bowen)<\/p><\/div>\n

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has come out in support of the Seaside Heights borough council\u2019s decision to end the town\u2019s Trap, Neuter, Release program<\/a>, as the volunteer group behind it has defended its management of the town\u2019s feral cat population, hailing their efforts as a success.<\/p>\n

The animal rights group, commonly known by its acronym PETA, said in a letter received by\u00a0borough officials late Friday afternoon that TNR programs \u2013 in which volunteers trap, spay or neuter, then release feral cats into \u201ccolonies\u201d they maintain \u2013 is in \u201cconflict with the mission of public-health and public-safety agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization, in its letter, said its field teams have, in the past, witnessed cats \u201csuffer and die badly because they have to fend for themselves outdoors.\u201d Further, the letter states: \u201cHomeless cats are forced to fight (and lose) daily battles against parasites, deadly contagious diseases, dehydration when their water sources evaporate or freeze, speeding cars, loose dogs, and malicious people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, roaming cats terrorize and kill birds and other wildlife who are already struggling with habitat destruction and environmental degradation,\u201d the letter, signed by\u00a0Teresa Chagrin, PETA\u00a0Animal Care and Control Specialist, said.<\/span><\/p>\n

For members of the Seaside Heights Animal Welfare Organization, the letter came as a blow. Before the letter was received, a Shorebeat reporter interviewed Lisa Franciosi, a Seaside Heights resident who is president of the group.<\/p>\n

Franciosi said the organization has both spayed and neutered feral cats and has built shelters and feeding stations to ensure their safety and cleanliness to the boardwalk area. She also said the group has never opposed beach replenishment or asked for a \u201chole\u201d to be placed in the future dunes, as has been rumored.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prevented people from going under [the boardwalk] and just throwing food to them,\u201d said\u00a0Franciosi. \u201cWe built shelters and feeding stations, protected by the weather and in one place, so we really cleaned it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A cat named \u201cBig Red\u201d by volunteers at Webster Avenue on the Seaside Heights boardwalk. (Photo: Ken Salerno)<\/p><\/div>\n

Franciosi did not have a measure of how much the borough\u2019s feral cat population had decreased since the TNR program began in the summer of 2011, but said their efforts of spaying and neutering hundreds of cats is estimated to have prevented 1,600 kittens from being born.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know right now of six kittens\u201d born recently, Franciosi said. \u201cNow that no one\u2019s trapping, those cats will soon be ready to reproduce. Now that the program has come to a stop, it\u2019s going to make the problem worse, not better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the letter from PETA,\u00a0Chagrin questioned whether such programs actually reduce feral cat populations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral reports suggest that support of \u2018managed cat colonies\u2019 may increase the public\u2019s likelihood of abandoning unwanted pets in lieu of more responsible options,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

The Seaside Heights program, hailed as a success by volunteers, did have a setback after Superstorm Sandy,\u00a0Franciosi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHomeowners left their cats in their homes, thinking they would be back on the island in two or three days,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took three weeks, and many of these cats got out and have since repopulated. After the storm, we\u00a0had two mass trappings all over town where we probably got 30 cats at one time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she said, the program has not only prevented the population from growing, but has managed the existing population in an organized fashion. Now that the Seaside Heights Animal Welfare organization has been removed from administration of the TNR program, its\u00a0members have continued to feed the cats, but have stopped the trappings and sterilizations\u00a0since it no longer has the authority to do so.<\/p>\n

Mayor Anthony Vaz reiterated\u00a0over the weekend that the borough will work to amend its animal ordinance in July to come up with a new plan to reduce the population. The plan will \u201cabsolutely not\u201d involve putting down the cats, Vaz said.<\/p>\n

The Seaside Heights Animal Welfare Organization will not be placed back in charge of the borough\u2019s feral cat reduction efforts, Vaz said. In a separate statement, Christopher Vaz, the borough administrator said the borough will look to partner with a new person and organization to lead whatever plan materializes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere certainly are members of SHAWO that we can work with, even if we will not work with SHAWO,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There have been numerous plans floated about the future of the cats, including relocating them elsewhere in town.\u00a0SHAWO members opposed the idea of relocating the cats near Barnegat Bay, since state highway 35 runs along the bayfront, posing a danger. Members of the group have discussed among themselves potential relocation options, if their input is sought.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be more discussion about that, at least between us, but I don\u2019t know where we go from here,\u201d said Franciosi.<\/p>\n[box type=\u201dshadow\u201d align=\u201d\u201d class=\u201d\u201d width=\u201d\u201d]Read the Letter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Letter from PETA to Seaside Heights, June 10, 2016<\/a>[\/box]\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has come out in support of the Seaside Heights borough council\u2019s decision to end the town\u2019s Trap, Neuter, Release program, as the volunteer group behind it has defended its management of the town\u2019s feral cat population, hailing their efforts as a success. The animal rights group, commonly known […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,6,5],"tags":[556,591,592,20,557],"class_list":["post-2382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-seaside-government","category-seaside-heights","tag-feral-cats","tag-peta","tag-seaside-heights-animal-welfare-organization","tag-seaside-heights-nj-news","tag-trap-neuter-release"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/bigred.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgsn9q-Cq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}