23 February 2010
In Nov, 2009 Community Cat Coalition of Clark County (C5) volunteers trapped, staged, and transported to Heaven Can Wait Society monthly feral clinic nearly 40 cats from the Thai Buddhist temple in North Las Vegas. Over the next several days, the monks continued trapping and at the end, 57 cats had been trapped, spayed/neutered, and returned to the temple. The Monks were thrilled that the cats would no longer be producing the large number of kittens they had seen in the past. We have remained in contact with the temple and will continue maintaining the virtually 100% spay/neuter rate.
On Friday the 19th of February at about 4pm, the Monks at the temple received a visit from Dale Smock, North Las Vegas Police Department Animal Control Manager. They were told that they would be allowed to have only three cats at the temple or face a $1200 fine if the excess cats were not removed. They were told to round up the cats and adopt them, providing names and address of where the cats went. If this could not be done, the Monks were to trap them with 11 AC provided traps and turn them over to NLVAC. They were told that they have until the 24th of February, Wednesday to begin complying.
Mr. Smock was evasive when asked what would happen to any cats turned over to NLVAC. What he wasn't willing to say was that they would be taken to Lied and virtually all of them would be killed. These are cats that are not socialized to living in homes and are not adoptable as regular pets. The monks see no way to avoid complying and having the cats removed and killed. The ordinance provides for an appeal to the city council, which we are in the process of determining how to file, since the monks were not provided a written copy of the complaint.
The Monks want nothing more that to live in peace with their community. They understand the problems that an uncontrolled breeding population of cats would cause and have been very cooperative in supporting the responsible management of these cats with Trap, Neuter and Return. With continued management of the cats the number is expected to decline as time goes by. This is a fairly isolated property and it is unlikely that a significant number leave there to bother any neighbors. If any of these cats are causing problems for neighbors there are several methods to address these issues that we would be happy to assist with.
If this site were a couple of miles away, in unincorporated Clark County, instead of NLV, the cats would be protected under the very progressive feral 10.06 ordinance! This ordinance has fostered the program which made the spay/neuter of these animals possible. County Animal control provides us with traps for long-term loan, and county grant money is used to spay/neuter many of the animals that we trap.
Trap Neuter Return and Manage is the only proven effective way to reduce the Community Cat population! The goal of our community-based TNR program is to have more sterilized animals on the streets as opposed to unsterilized animals, which will in turn halt the growth of the population. Every time one of the sterilized animals is destroyed, the ratio is going in the wrong direction!
If you would like to contribute money to help with fines or legal fees for the monks and or support the temple cats, send contributions to:
Wat Buddhapavana Temple
ATTN: Temple Cats
2959 West Gowan Road
North Las Vegas, NV 89032-3437
If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Community Cat Coalition of Clark County:
C5
4933 W. Craig Road #248
Las Vegas, Nevada
89130-2730
UPDATE 2/23 9:00 AM : We will be holding a peaceful protest in honor of national spay day at the Buddhapavana Temple located at Gowan and Simmons from 1 - 5 PM. Come join us and help protect these community cats!
UPDATE 2/23 6:30 PM: We have reached an agreement to meet next week in person to further discuss the case. Please cease any emails or calls to NLV officials until further notice! Thanks a lot to those that did call or write, you certainly got their attention!
On Friday the 19th of February at about 4pm, the Monks at the temple received a visit from Dale Smock, North Las Vegas Police Department Animal Control Manager. They were told that they would be allowed to have only three cats at the temple or face a $1200 fine if the excess cats were not removed. They were told to round up the cats and adopt them, providing names and address of where the cats went. If this could not be done, the Monks were to trap them with 11 AC provided traps and turn them over to NLVAC. They were told that they have until the 24th of February, Wednesday to begin complying.
The Monks are profoundly distressed about this situation. The Buddhist temple is considered to be a sanctuary and all living things that find their way there are cared for and protected by the Monks. This is a sacred duty. Buddhists believe in reincarnation. It is entirely possible for you to come back in the next life as any animal, including a cat. A cat that finds it's way to the temple, rather than say a used car lot, is entirely likely to be a fellow Buddhist looking for sanctuary. Being forced to pick three cats to live and trap the rest to die is a profound affront to their faith. It is on the same scale as calling the priest out of Sunday service, telling him to pick three of his congregation, and then forcing him to nail the door shut on the rest and set the Church on fire.
The Monks want nothing more that to live in peace with their community. They understand the problems that an uncontrolled breeding population of cats would cause and have been very cooperative in supporting the responsible management of these cats with Trap, Neuter and Return. With continued management of the cats the number is expected to decline as time goes by. This is a fairly isolated property and it is unlikely that a significant number leave there to bother any neighbors. If any of these cats are causing problems for neighbors there are several methods to address these issues that we would be happy to assist with.
If this site were a couple of miles away, in unincorporated Clark County, instead of NLV, the cats would be protected under the very progressive feral 10.06 ordinance! This ordinance has fostered the program which made the spay/neuter of these animals possible. County Animal control provides us with traps for long-term loan, and county grant money is used to spay/neuter many of the animals that we trap.
Trap Neuter Return and Manage is the only proven effective way to reduce the Community Cat population! The goal of our community-based TNR program is to have more sterilized animals on the streets as opposed to unsterilized animals, which will in turn halt the growth of the population. Every time one of the sterilized animals is destroyed, the ratio is going in the wrong direction!
If you would like to contribute money to help with fines or legal fees for the monks and or support the temple cats, send contributions to:
Wat Buddhapavana Temple
ATTN: Temple Cats
2959 West Gowan Road
North Las Vegas, NV 89032-3437
If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Community Cat Coalition of Clark County:
C5
4933 W. Craig Road #248
Las Vegas, Nevada
89130-2730
UPDATE 2/23 9:00 AM : We will be holding a peaceful protest in honor of national spay day at the Buddhapavana Temple located at Gowan and Simmons from 1 - 5 PM. Come join us and help protect these community cats!
UPDATE 2/23 6:30 PM: We have reached an agreement to meet next week in person to further discuss the case. Please cease any emails or calls to NLV officials until further notice! Thanks a lot to those that did call or write, you certainly got their attention!
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7 comments:
This is horrible. Thank you to the Monks who are working to care for these cats.
Here are a group of truly enlightened souls who have done all the right things for their cat family. They should not now be subject to all the wrong things that can happen when government representatives do not consider all the consequences of following antiquated and unfair laws that no longer serve the good of the people (and certainly of the cats). Has the media been informed so perhaps press coverage can be obtained for this peaceful demonstration? It would be very powerful exposure for the 6:00 news and make make the NLV City fathers a bit uncomfortable about this decision.
If the cats are feral then they do need to be destroyed, sterile or not or kept in a large secure outdoor enclosure in which they can not escape.
Most if not damn near all feral cat supports refuse to listen to reason much less acknowledge all the environmental damage feral cats do. They do spread all kinds of diseases and parasites, kill native wild life, push out native predators, dig in gardens and sandbox were kids play and leave behind cat crap that carries all kinds of pathogens.
Feral cats are pests, nuisances, and a danger to native wild life and feral cat colonies shouldn't be support. They need to be wiped out.
Since its at a temple, they can easily build a very large sturdy outdoor enclosure to house the cats, one they can't escape from and cause even more damage to the environment and end up being shot or poisoned by annoyed people who take things into their own hands.
It is a temple and they do consider life sacred so I can were they are coming from, building a large enclosure would be best for the cats since it would keep them safe but I have a feeling the city won't even allow that.
That is ridiculous. The ferals who are caught and spayed or neutered, receive their vaccines, get medical attention (to a degree) if ill. Native wildlife... humans with their over building, and hunting have done more harm than the cats have.
Yes they may deficate in a garden, but is that really worth the taking of a life? And yes, they can carry toxoplasmosis- however, a cat will only be a carrier for 2 weeks in its entire life. Look it up if you like. If we had responsible pet owners we would not have the feral cat problem. So should the unresponsible owners be killed the way the cats will be if they are caught? An animal has no choice. People make the choices for them!!!!
Looking at NLV animal law, I see that one option is to get a cat fancier's permit that would allow up to 6 cats. Interesting how these options were never mentioned to the Monks.
I mean seriously, most recently trying to ticket a woman for $1100 who's cat got out of the home accidentally saying the owner allowed the animal to run at large.
It seems that the NLV Animal Control would rather be killers and money makers, as usual. Shame on you NLV! Especially for using thuggery tactics on Monks!
what ever happened??
"Most if not damn near all feral cat supports refuse to listen to reason much less acknowledge all the environmental damage feral cats do. They do spread all kinds of diseases and parasites, kill native wild life, push out native predators, dig in gardens and sandbox were kids play and leave behind cat crap that carries all kinds of pathogens.
Feral cats are pests, nuisances, and a danger to native wild life and feral cat colonies shouldn't be support. They need to be wiped out."
These are all valid concerns and should not ber ignored, but when you say they need to be wiped out, you propse something that is clearly not possible! If you want to change the law so that it's legal to shoot or poison or do whatever it is you want to the cats, go ahead! Until that time, we will continue to use the only legal and proven method to reduce the cat population.
Even if you could implement some fantasy solution it would not work. You could poison, shoot and trap them but you will never get them all. People will always find ways to feed cats and in a short period of time, you'll be back to being overrun by cats!
You can complain all you want or you can actually do something effective to control the population! Wishing for the cats to go away or bemoaning the fact that they kill wildlife will not help get rid of them. Trapping and killing them may reduce the population at one place temporarily, but as long as cats are reproducing in others it's like trying to empty a bathtub with a teaspoon while the faucet is running.
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