Though the news wasn’t entirely unexpected, it’s now official: Wake County, NC, has officially adopted TNR!

According to a story in Monday’s Raleigh Public Record, the new policy allows private non-profits to manage the trapping, sterilization, and vaccination of community cats.

And, in what was apparently an eleventh-hour victory, TNR supporters (led, as I understand it, by SPCA of Wake County) won additional protections for these cats. “The county will not be able to trap such cats simply for roaming at-large,” notes the paper.

“People can report the clipped-ear feral cats as nuisances and the county can still trap them for euthanasia. However, the county will contact the TNR group to attempt to find a resolution, the new policy states.” [1]

Lives Lost and Lives Saved
Regardless of how many cats are “euthanized” by the county under the new plan, there’s little doubt that many hundreds—thousands, perhaps—will be saved. According to the Public Record, the county-run shelter killed 4,830 of the 7,766 cats it took in between summer 2010 and 2011, for an abysmal 37.8 percent live-release rate. Read more