OAR is an excellent rescue in the greater Cincinnati area. It is unrealistic to expect every cat to be adopted due to both the volume and some cats simply are not "people" cats and the alternative is difficult to be comfortable. Providing a Trap/Neuter/Release program provides an excellent service to the community which allows these wonderful animals a second chance while reducing the on-going population program. I have adopted 3 cats through OAR and cannot say enough about the caring volunteers and the huge amount of time they put in matching the cats to the right families. They care so much about each and every cat. They are "purrfect"!
Ohio Alleycat Resource is a firm believer in TNR (trap, neuter and return). We have had 2 of our 9 rescue cats neutered by OAR. We are not opposed to cats (we have 9 rescue cats and 1 rescue dog), but we are opposed to the TNR concept. With TNR, the cat is spayed or neutered and returned to the area in which it was found. As I see it, the huge problem with TNR is that the cats are left to fend for themselves after they are released. If no one is feeding the cat, as is usually the case, the cat will kill native songbirds and other small mammals, often by the thousands, over the lifetime of the cat. TNR cats are also exposed to the risks of all cats that are allowed to roam: disease, fights, being hit by cars, being shot at, poisoned, etc.
Since March 2015, we have had a cat in our neighborhood that kills at least 5 songbirds per day in our 1/8 acre yard. The population of cardinals, mourning doves, blue jays and woodpeckers, all ground feeders, has been particularly devastated by this cat. Every bird's nest has been pulled from the trees and no nestlings have survived this year due to the cat hunting all the birds. The cat has also killed voles, chipmunks and other small mammals on our property. The cat is very thin and unhealthy looking. We cannot take in any more cats; we have too many already. We have built our rescue cats two large screenhouses, but we still have too many cats in 1400 square feet of home and cannot take in more. I do not allow any of our cats to roam. In an effort to stop all the bird killing and the spraying of our screenhouses by roaming cats, we have spent over $1000 trying to keep cats out of our yard. We have chicken wire fencing around the entire yard, which is topped by netting and hawthorn branches zip-tied to the top and placed at the bottom of all fencing. We have 2 scarecrow sprinklers. We have laid chicken wire on the ground all the way around the fencing. The chicken wire is covered with the peels of oranges and lemons. STILL, the cat is able to get into our yard many times per day to kill despite all the barriers.
After trying to trap this cat since April, we finally successfully trapped it at 9pm on Thursday, August 13. We took it to the SPCA as soon as they opened at noon on Friday, August 14. I felt terrible to have to take a cat to the SPCA, but I do not believe saving the life of one cat is a fair trade-off to the hundreds of native songbirds and other mammals that are killed by this cat. The very next day, I found the feathers of 2 cardinals and 3 mourning doves in our yard. These were clearly fresh kills. I was shocked to find these new kills because the only cat that was killing in our yard was the one we took to the SPCA.
I called the SPCA and found that they released the cat to Ohio Alleycat Resource the day we brought it in. The cat had a tipped ear and had already been spayed or neutered. The SPCA recorded that the cat was about a year old and weighed 5 pounds, clearly an undernourished cat. The SPCA said that OAR took the cat back to our home that afternoon and released it into our front yard. As long as the cat has been spayed or neutered, this is their policy. I had no idea such an agreement existed between the SPCA and OAR. We are right back where we started in April, but now we have a likely trap-shy cat and nowhere to take it if we are able to trap it again. I completely disagree with this policy of both OAR and the SPCA. They are not doing justice to either the cat or the native wildlife population.
Review from Guidestar