A few weeks ago, The Shield published an article about a USI student who was proposing Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) for the USI Feral Cat Population.

TNR is only an idea at this point in time, but now I that have fully read the article, as well as received some feedback from my friends concerning the idea, I have a definite opinion.

I come from a home with two cats. We call one Salty and the other Pepper. It’s sort of an inside joke in my family.

We had them neutered within the first couple of weeks we adopted them. We gave them a warm home with great love.

This plan of neutering cats, to me, is inhumane. These stray cats are out there alone.

When cats are neutered they become defenseless and attached to the environment. Especially in this terribly cold weather, what happens to them?

Are they to just defend against the cold, other animals, and whatever on their own? And, after neutering these cats, we are to let them back into the woods or wherever they are going to be released.

What about looking into organizations that house animals without the nearest idea of hurting them? For example, we adopted my fat blub of a dog, Gracie, at It Takes A Village.

I contacted them to see if they adopted cats. Unfortunately, they do not.

But, they did give me a few organizations that would house cats. One was called P.A.W.W.S.  Why don’t students look into giving these strays to this organization?

This whole idea of TNR really scares me to the core that these animals will be left defenseless in the world. They need comfort and warm homes.

Let’s look into P.A.W.W.S. or another place where they can find sanctuary.