3 COMMENTS

  1. I’m very sorry if my word choice gave anyone the wrong idea about the cats that live on campus. I described them as “wild,” then corrected myself to say “feral,” in the sense of “undomesticated.” They are not savage beasts that lie in wait to attack unsuspecting humans. One or two of the cats are not very shy of people, but none of them want to be pets or to be petted. Admire them from a distance, but don’t touch! As for “bringing no benefit” to the college, this is untrue. Unlike Mr. Wilkinson, many people regard the cats as an asset that adds pleasure and interest to college life. The cats have brought together and fostered friendships among members of the college population who otherwise would not have met. Caring for the cats offers volunteer opportunities for students and employees. The program has required planning and cooperation with people from several different departments, requiring participants to stretch our horizons, to learn about cats, the college, our community, each other, and ourselves. There is too much ignorance in the world, too much intolerance, and far too little compassion; if we can improve these conditions in our little corner of the world, how could the community cats program NOT be a benefit to the college?

  2. I want to share some very valid information with you regarding the community cat program. Number one, it is the ordinance of the city and the community cat act has been adopted in Utah as of 2011, several cities continue to change ordinances and support it due to its very evident success at reducing and controlling populations, while providing a humane way to help the cats. These cats have been on campus for years 10+. The program adopted by SL County, West Valley/Taylorsville, Davis county and several other cities was not adopted without very thorough thought, due to proven research at the effectiveness at reducing cat populations. The program fixes cats ALREADY on campus. Therefor the cats are not breeding; the fixed cats actually keep new unfixed strays from moving in. The methods used for the past 80 years of removing and euthanizing have made cat populations triple-when you remove them the remaining cats breed twice as fast to make up for lost members of the colony. There is a great deal of misinformation and outdated beliefs about cats. Proper education in these matters is essential. The first one being that cats cannot survive on mice alone, they do need a food source. Cats hunt for sport and are actually less desperate, not scavenging and better rodent control if they have a food source. People have been sneaking to feed the cats for years in an uncontrolled, non -monitored fashion. The program has set up very specific feeding times, schedules and stations to eliminate the previous problems associated with this. Secondly there are cats in every community, people with allergies are not touching the cats or coming into contact with them, this is irrelevant and basically stating that people with allergies could not live in a neighborhood or community with any animals including peoples pets. There has not been any recorded increase nor decrease with people having allergies in any communities, college campuses (many who participate) businesses etc by participating in community cat programs. Finally the college did not make the decision lightly either. The claims that people make about diseases, community cats endangering people is simply due to a lack of information and knowledge of the actual statistics relating to these claims. People are not handling these cats and they actually run from humans other than trusted caregivers of which they cannot even touch them, so the chances of them giving any disease to humans is far less than the possibility on you contracting an illness or a disease from another human, uncooked fish or other sources that by far outweighs the risk from community cats. These cats are vaccinated and actually listed as the number one form of non-chemical rodent control by the USDA. The benefit of providing a program to maintain and care for the cats is simply this, there are many people who do care about the cats and though some people are not a fan of cats many are. Controlling and reducing populations is something all can agree on, providing a humane effective option for helping animals is the future of reducing shelter euthanasia and kitten populations. Finally the most beneficial piece of this program is the ability to educate people on the importance of spaying and neutering their own pets, including all cats male or female, getting people to take accountability for the fact that these cats get into the community by irresponsible ownership and abandoning of pet cats. It’s important to know that the value of this program is huge on many levels and much like people who don’t want to own a pet cat, people not wanting to participate in the program can choose not to, the cats have always been on campus and in the community. There are many people however who do see the value, and want to participate and help in educating people about community cats.

  3. I would like to respond to your “math”…First of all 8 treat and releases is awesome for 4 months…when you consider the “Aggie Cat’ program at USU has done a total of 9 in the 10 years it has been active.( they are now down to 4 cats on campus after starting with 30) Also the fact that these cats are going to exist whether there is a program available or not. By supplying a healthy and safe environment the club is actually making a bad situation better.
    Finally- are you suggesting these animals be carted off to shelters and put to death just because some college educated people are silly enough to try to make friends with a wild animal ?
    These animals were disposed of on our campus like trash and just want the right to live, Are you going to be the one to kill them ???
    BTW- your allergies are more likely caused by trees not by the cat that is on the other side of campus because they do not want any part of you either.
    The bottom line is you are terribly uninformed and should do your research.

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