1. What are the benefits to registering my feral cat colony?
The basic philosophy of Animal Control in Clark County is that if you feed a cat you own the cat.
Normally an individual is allowed to have three cats, with a fanciers permit you are allowed twelve.
This is obviously a problem as a small colony can have a dozen or more cats. A registered colony and
it's caretaker are exempt from this limit and are governed by the provisions of ordinance 10.06 rather than 10.36.
A registered colony is allowed to roam freely where cats under 10.36 are required to be indoors or confined
at all times, once again a problem with a feral colony.
As part of the TNR management program cats are "ear tipped". When Animal Control obtains an ear tipped cat they
are required to contact the Central Sponsor in attempt to return the cat to it's colony. If the cat is not registered
then it goes through the normal channels.
As a registered colony caretaker you have the resources of you sponsoring group and the Central Sponsor behind you
when dealing with Animal Control.
2. How do I register my colony?
Contact one of the groups that are acting as colony caretaker sponsors. They will provide registration information and help
with the management of your colony.
3. I have been managing a colony for some time and I am concerned about
revealing my identity or the location of my colony, is this necessary?
Having your identity and location known should not be a problem as
registered colonies and caretakers are now legal. The only information
that will be provided to Animal Control and the County will be an annual
report of colonies by Zip code. This is necessary to measure the
progress
on this effort. Your personal information will not be provided to Animal
Control or any other outside group. Your sponsor group can further
protect
your identity by providing an anonymous identifier if you prefer. The
exact location of your colony can also be maintained by your sponsor
group
but I will need to know the zip code and general location to assist in
returning cats obtained by Animal Control.
4. The feral colony census form asks for a lot of details about my
colony, is this necessary and what if I can't get the information?
In order to meet the requirements of the ordinance certain
information is required. The more complete information your sponsor and
the Central
Sponsor have the better we can support your efforts to manage your
colony. It is understood that you may not be able to provide all the
details on every cat, this is simply the nature of managing a feral
colony. We would prefer the colony be registered with incomplete
information
than have it not registered at all.
5. I am a property owner or HOA officer. Why should I allow a managed feral colony on my property or in my community?
The first thing to understand is that the cats are already there.
Cats are not created or brought in to establish the colony. A registered
colony
and TNR (Trap, Neuter, and Return) is a tool to manage the existing
cats and minimize problems with them. Much of the problem behavior
associated with feral
cats, such as fighting, spraying, calling, and kittens are greatly
reduced or eliminated in a managed colony. A managed colony will be
reduced in size
as time goes by as normal mortality is not made up with new kittens.
The colony caretaker, supported by their sponsor group, will be
available
to help address problems that do arise with the colony.
6. I have been feeding stray cats and I want to learn more about
properly managing a feral colony, where can I go for more information?
Check the "Links" page.
7. Cats in my neighborhood are using my yard as a "litter box" and
generally being pests. What can I do to prevent this behavior?
A couple of products have been found that are useful in encouraging
cats to avoid your yard. Motion activated water sprinklers are
available.
These will spray for a couple of seconds when motion is detected. This
will startle but not hurt the cat and it will avoid the area. I have
found
these in garden supply stores or you can go to the Scarecrow web site on
the links page. The other product is a chemical repellent. The product
that is reported to work the best is "coyote/fox urine granules" by
Shake-Away. The UPC is 714183900209. Ace Hardware and Star Nursery carry
the
Shake-Away products. If they do not have them in stock they can order
them for you. A link to Shake-Away is also on the links page.
While we are just getting started, quite a lot of good work has
been done other places. Also, our sponsor groups can provide information
specific to our location.
