Cats Under Fire

[Maggie Funkhouser]

This week is full of bad news for our feline friends! Hundreds of cats
in Virginia are being rounded up by a pest control company to rid a
trailer park of stray and feral cats. A small town in Iowa has set a
$5 bounty to encourage residents to catch and turn in stray/feral cats
to "manage" their cat problem, and China is still cleansing its
streets to prepare for the Olympics. Want to do something about one or
all of these issues? Then, please voice your opinion and disapproval
by contacting those listed below. I know it does not seem like much,
to write a letter, but if several hundred or thousand people each
write a letter, it can make a difference!

Chantilly, Virginia

Monday night, residents of the Meadows of Chantilly mobile home park
received a noticed, announcing the decision to hire a pest control
company to trap and kill the more than two hundred cats living in
their community. Most residents disagree with this decision and
welcome the cats. A cat rescue organization has been performing TNR
and most cats have been sterilized. The management's decision came as
a shock, considering they previously made a public promise to work
with all parties involved to decide the fate of the cats.

ACR is urging our members to write to the Management team at Equity
Lifestyle Properties and insist they continue with the TNR program.
The community is willing to work with rescue groups to sterilize the
cats and provide food/water and homemade shelters. There is no reason
to trap and kill.

Ms. Taunya Bailey
Regional Manager
Equity Lifestyle Properties
Waterford
205 Joan Dr.
Bear, DE 19701

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc.
Two North Riverside Plaza
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Phone: 312-279-1400
Fax: 312-279-1710
E-Mail: Infor...@mhchomes.com
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Randolph, Iowa

Mayor Vance Trively is encouraging his residents to catch stray cats
by offering a $5 bounty for every cat that is turned in. Any cat who
cannot easily be identified as an owned cat will be caught and killed.
Not only is this action inhumane for the cats, but it also puts people
at risk. Feral cats are not to be handled, and those with no
experience working with them could end up with severe injuries (not to
mention children trying to catch the cats). Plus, some residents worry
for their pets' welfare, saying anyone could remove a cat's collar and
say it is a stray.

Please contact the mayor and express that his "town round-up" is an
ineffective way to control the cat population and it puts people and
the cats in danger. The more effective, less costly, and humane method
of cat control is TNR.

Mayor Vance Trively
PO Box 88
107 S Main
Randolph, IA 51649-0013

randol...@iowatelecom.net
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Beijing, China

Cats are still being round up en mass to cleanse the city before the
start of the Olympics. This recent government campaign is telling
citizens that cats are disease carries, causing a country-wide panic.
According to an England newspaper, "cat owners, terrified by the
disease warning, are dumping their pets in the streets to be picked up
by special collection teams." Another report states that "paranoia is
so intense that six stray cats -including two pregnant females - were
beaten to death with sticks by teachers at a Beijing kindergarten, who
feared they might pass illnesses to the children."

ACR is urging our members to continue to contact the Olympics
organizations and voice your disgust with the inhumane treatment of
animals in order to prepare for The Games.

Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
(BOCOG)
267 Bei Si Huan Zhong Lu
Haidian District
Beijing 100083, China

Tel: (86.10) 66 69 91 85
Fax: (86.10) 66 69 92 29
Email: 20...@beijing2008.cn

Beijing Olympics

mis...@beijing2008.cn, intern...@beijing2008.cn,
mark...@beijing2008.cn, xuan...@beijing2008.cn

Olympics General

secre...@eurolympic.org, od...@oem.com.mx, in...@ocasia.org,
in...@acnolympic.org, ac...@camnet.cm, on...@onoc.org.fj, c...@coa.ad,
b...@boa.org.uk, noc...@cons.sm, off...@noc.fi, off...@oeoc.at,
arm...@arminco.com, in...@olympic.be, off...@okscg.org.yu,
cn...@cnosf.org, off...@dosb.de, in...@sok.se,
internatio...@noc-nsf.nl, segre...@coni.it
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www.saveacat.org
www.care2.com/c2c/group/ACR
http://alleycatrescue.blogspot.com/