Village of Haverstraw New Law

The writer, a Valley Cottage resident, is part of Community Cats Initiative — Educating and Advocating for TNR in Rockland County. Published on Lohud.com

The Village of Haverstraw made history when it passed Rockland County’s first feral cat ordinance to support Trap Neuter Return. Mayor Michael Kohut understood the imperative of taking a practical and humane step toward controlling the population of stray or “feral” cats.

Stray cats, and often colonies of stray/feral cats, live in every corner of this county — behind shopping centers, near office buildings, in apartment complexes, by the river, in parks. Everywhere! Feral cats live close to humanity because they find sources of food and water. Most of mankind feels an instinct to help the strays they see, so they feed them.

But a comprehensive Trap, Neuter, Return program, which is what the Village of Haverstraw endorsed with its newly passed legislation, turns random feeding into a cohesive approach to both feed but winnow down the populations through sterilizing and vaccinating. Community Cats Initiative, a nonprofit group that is advocating for and educating on Trap Neuter Return countywide, has introduced this concept to Mayor Kohut, and to other mayors and supervisors in the county.

TNR is a tried and tested method of population control being used throughout the country and the world. Here’s how it works: There is a caretaker in charge of a managed colony. That colony can be anywhere from five cats to 50. The feeder comes at regularly scheduled times, feeds the colony, and then removes the food source, so as not to attract other wildlife. The colony caretaker — working with TNR groups — aims to fix all the cats, male and female. The TNR groups work with lower-cost spay-neuter facilities. The overarching goal of TNR is to reduce populations through sterilization, and to stop the cycle of kitten births. Fixing cats also reduces nuisance behavior such as fighting, yowling and spraying. The colony caretaker is like a manager — when a new cat shows up, they make sure the intruder is also fixed.

So where does the Village of Haverstraw fit in?

TNR works best when colony caretakers, animal control officers, law enforcement and the community work together. When a municipality blesses TNR, the program operates in daylight. It is legitimate and the different parties can come to the table together. Additionally, the municipality helps to disseminate information and educate its citizens. It helps fund the efforts.