San Francisco’s most vulnerable mom cats and kittens need you now!

CURRENT ISSUE

Both Animal Care and Control San Francisco (SF ACC) and SF SPCA have officially rolled back programs that have been in place for 20 years. Effective immediately some our most vulnerable San Francisco residents are at risk, the teeny kittens.

For 20 years there have been progressive programs at SF ACC and SF SPCA in place to help and reduce this vulnerable population. Both agencies worked with volunteers members of the community to successfully keep San Francisco’s feral cat population down and allow kittens born outside to have an opportunity to be adopted through these agencies and live their life safely in a home.

Both SF ACC and SF SPCA are basing the removal of these programs on studies that have not been shared with the volunteers or public from UC Davis and Alley Cat Allies. The lead vet at UC Davis Dr. Hurley has a history as an ACO at Santa Cruz shelter where she admitted to killing thousands of cats. If a cat was not immediately calm in the shelter she would bring the cat to the back room and euthanize it. Now she realizes that was a mistake and her story has changed. Now she’s recommending leaving these kittens to die even though San Francisco has had innovative programs to see them. What will be the next? Will she decide that these kittens shouldn’t have been left to die? Is there really any credibility in anyone willing to kill that many cats even if they’ve changed their tune? 

Alley Cat Allies recommends leaving unweaned kittens with their moms. The problem is is that San Francisco has been ahead of the curve in reducing feral cat population and has had progressive programs in place that have actually been featured on Alley Cat Allies website. We definitely agree with keeping the kittens with the mom cat whenever possible. But why not do it inside where everyone is safe?

The theory is that it’s too stressful to have feral moms inside with their kittens. That it’s “safer” to keep them outside until they are weaned. The problem with that is that it’s easier to trap the mom and kittens when they haven’t been weaned. Then the kittens never begin to display feral behaviors because they haven’t had to try to survive on the tough streets of San Francisco. Both agencies are claiming that it is OK to leave the mom cat and her kittens as long as they are in a “safe” space. The problem is there is no safe space outside in San Francisco. There are predators or all sort including raccoons, coyotes, dogs and humans that hate cats. They are at risk of being poisoned, disease, abandonment from the mom, starvation and of course death. Feral cats are NOT wild animals. They are domesticated animals that have been abandoned to live outside. Kittens born outside from feral moms will not display feral behaviors until they have had to try to survive. They are just victims of the previous abandonment. It is our job to stand up for these most innocent beings and be the voice for them when large organizations like SF ACC and SF SPCA are not.

SF ACC claims that 45% of kittens impounded under four weeks of age die in the shelter. Did you know that any kitten that comes in without its eyes open without a mom are euthanized? Did you know that many kittens under the age of the week without a mom may die unless bottle fed? Did you know that their data does not indicate if they are with the mom cat or not? Their data is flawed.

Programs have previously been in place that allowed these feral moms with their kittens to live in foster homes or in the previous program at SF SPCA that has been shut down called Mamas from the Streets. Now these cats are left to fend for themselves outside. Moms need to move their kittens just to keep them alive, to leave them alone when they go to fend for food and to abandon them if a predator is near. They are unable to care for their kittens if they become sick and diseased. The odds are against these mom cats and teeny kittens trying to survive outside.

Why rollback these successful and effective programs? Is it about numbers? If these kittens never come into the shelter they never show up in their statistics reducing the live release rates. Is that what this is about? When it comes to vulnerable lives should always be about doing the right thing. And this is not the right thing. This is risking precious lives.

Volunteers and rescues have been dismissed even though they’ve been doing this work longer than leadership has been in charge.