ACTION ALERT: NJ Fish and Game Tries to Legalize Hunting Feral Cats
Maggie Funkhouser
contacted state officials in an effort to head off a potential
reclassification of feral cats, which could end the growing number of
programs that trap, neuter and return them back into neighborhoods or
the wild, and allow them to be hunted. The state Fish and Game Council
has condemned the idea of leaving cats in the wild and now another
committee that reports to the state Department of Environmental
Protection is studying the issue of TNR programs.
Fish and Game Council member, Leonard Wolgast, was the sponsor of the
resolution and has brought the issue of feral cats up at several
council meetings. (Mr. Wolgast also recently supported re-opening bear
hunting in the state.) Some animal activists have questioned whether
he should be allowed to participate in such discussions at all because
he is listed as owner of the East Brunswick property where Blumig
Kennel, (which is owned and operated by his wife's family), is
located. That kennel contracts with several communities in Central
Jersey to pick up and euthanize cats. **Smells like money!**
Jeannette Vreeland, acting chair of the Fish and Game Council, asked
in 2007 if feral cats could be added to the list of animals that could
be hunted, according to council meeting minutes. This week she
defended the 2007 resolution.
No action by the council is expected before a recommendation from an
ad hoc committee of the DEP's Endangered Nongame Species Advisory
Committee. That group, of which council meeting minutes indicate
Wolgast is a member, is looking more closely at TNR programs and is
supposed to recommend whether these should be supported or opposed.
Its next meeting is in April. **More politics to sway the outcome!**
Steve Austin, Boonton's Health Administrator, said Boonton's TNR not
only works, but has saved the town money. "Over the past five years,
we've been able to save the town $19,000,'' Austin said, noting the
cost to trap, hold for seven days, then euthanize a cat is $95. Often,
he had neither the manpower nor the money to do that. Now the
Parsippany Animal Support Society uses grant money to conduct the TNR
program in Boonton. "It should be our choice. If they are going to
make TNR illegal, it's going to cost us a lot of money,'' Austin said.
But David Blumig, East Brunswick's animal control officer, wrote a
letter to the Mount Olive Council as it was considering the issue,
saying TNR does not work.
In New Jersey, the animal activists, wildlife supporters and most
governmental agencies have been working together on solutions.
"The Fish and Game Council is really an aberration,'' Bryan Kortis,
executive director of Neighborhood Cats. "They are trying to derail
these efforts. Obviously they stand on extremely tenuous legal
grounds.''
The activists' letter states that because the state Legislature has
deemed cats to be companion, domestic animals, the Fish and Game
Council is prohibited from reclassifying or regulating them.
The state Department of Health and Senior Services has jurisdiction
over animal control issues, including stray cats. It has not taken a
position on TNR but does talk about managed cat colonies as one
solution.
The Sheriffs' Association of New Jersey discussed the issue this week
and plans to join the animal activists in opposing any
reclassification of cats that would allow them to be hunted and is
asking Wolgast to recluse himself from the issue.
The groups say the Fish and Game Council should back off and not try
to fix what isn't broken. "We've seen TNR reduce feral cat numbers and
reduce the numbers of complaints,'' Lerner said, who works with the
Animal Protection League of New Jersey and helped start a TNR program
in Mount Olive last summer. "This is really inappropriate for the
council.''
ACR is urging our members to write to the NJ DEP and tell them TNR is
proven effective; current TNR programs in NJ (and across the US) are
reducing feral cat numbers and educating the public on the importance
of spay/neuter and keeping cats indoors. TNR also saves states money
by not having to hold and kill feral cats; rescue organizations are
already using private money to implement TNR programs. If a species
needs controlled in order to preserve another, then all humane, non-
lethal methods should be utilized. In this day and age, everyone
should be trying to instill more compassionate ethics towards the
earth and all of its inhabitants. Individuals want to see, demand to
see, an end to the pointless trapping and killing of thousands of
feral cats. Please ask the NJ DEP to help us make a brighter future
for feral cats, by supporting TNR.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Bob Martin, Acting Commissioner
PO Box 402
401 East State Street, 7th floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0402
Bob Martin: 609-292-2885
Sandy Nis, Executive Secretary: 609-777-4327
Fax Number: 609-292-7695
ALSO, please visit The Petition Site to sign ACR’s petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/42/help-stop-the-hunting-of-feral-cats-in-nj
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