Caring for cats: community-style

By SANDY LONG

TOWN OF LUMBERLAND, NY — “It’s a town issue, not a pet lover’s issue,” said Joan Rosenfelt, stroking the glossy fur of her cat, Mickey. Rescued from the streets of Harlem years ago, Mickey enjoys life with Rosenfelt in Pond Eddy these days. But most stray cats aren’t so lucky, living lives marked by struggle, starvation and disease.

The issue prompted Rosenfelt to approach the Town of Lumberland board recently to begin discussions about addressing such prob-

lems. Rosenfelt would like the Town of Lumberland to join the towns of Mamakating and Montgomery in working with The Animal Rights Alliance (TARA) to reduce the population of stray cats in Lumberland by providing low-cost spaying and neutering options to town residents.

“Feral cats can transmit life-threatening diseases to domestic cats that come into contact with them,” said Rosenfelt. “It’s a public health issue.”

Several options are available to the town and Steve Tardif, vice president of the non-profit agency, said that towns can choose to subsidize the program at various levels through its certificate program. TARA has a permanent facility in Monticello and a mobile unit that can travel to towns for specially arranged spay days.

Montgomery has held 10 town clinics and Mamakating has set aside $2,000 in its annual budget to participate in TARA’s town-subsidized certificate program for the past six years. A minimum of 30 cats is needed to bring the mobile unit to town, and up to 60 cats can be altered in a single day. TARA offers towns a 10 percent discount off its normal fee, bringing the cost to $50. Towns can further reduce this by subsidizing the certificates at an amount of their choice. The fee includes a rabies vaccine, nail trimming and ear cleaning.

Supervisor John LiGreci said the town board will consider working with TARA if residents express interest in doing so. Deputy town clerk Ray Budd said he will make detailed information available in an upcoming issue of the Lumberland town newsletter.

Meanwhile, Rosenfelt is busy posting notices around town and asking people to keep their pets’ welfare in mind. “The cats are suffering, especially in this cold weather,” said Rosenfelt. “It upsets me, and I’d like to see something done by the town.” Rosenfelt also notes that it is illegal to abandon animals and urges dog owners to bring their dogs indoors during these days of plummeting temperatures.

Since 2002, TARA has spayed or neutered 26,000 cats. One female cat and her offspring can produce 421,000 cats in seven years. Visit www.tara-spayneuter.org or call 845/754-7100 for more information.