Osceola Community Cat Program
Active between January, 2018 and December, 2020
Quick links
TNR is the key. About Best Friends in Osceola. The grant. Program Goals Program partners
Helping stray cats: TNR is the key.
Nearly three-quarters of cats who enter our nation’s animal shelters each year are killed. Most are free-roaming, stray or feral cats. Here at Best Friends, we refer to them as community cats. Although some of these cats are adoptable, many more are not. And for unadoptable cats, a trip to the shelter is often fatal.
TNR saves cats’ lives.
Trap-neuter-return (TNR) entails trapping, neutering, vaccinating, and returning community cats to their original outdoor locations. It is not only the most humane method of preventing cats from entering the shelter system, it’s the most effective.
TNR also ensures the cats’ health and welfare. Once these cats are sterilized and vaccinated, they can live healthy, happy lives in their communities, where caring residents look out for them. Sterilization and vaccination provide a public health benefit to the community, too, a vast improvement over the failed trap-and-kill approach that’s been used for generations.
How Best Friends is helping.
Best Friends sterilizes, vaccinates and releases tens of thousands of community cats each year, preventing many thousands of births.
Support TNR and help reduce the number of community cats, and ultimately the number of cats being killed in America’s shelters.
Best Friends Mission
To bring about a time when there are no more homeless pets.
Best Friends Vision
A better world through kindness to animals.
Best Friends Guiding principles
Golden Rule:
To treat all living things as we ourselves would wish to be treated.
Kindness:
To demonstrate compassion and respect for all living creatures.
Positive influence:
To judge our effectiveness by the extent to which animal lives are saved and improved, and by the positive experience of the people we touch.
Leadership:
To lead by example, developing, promoting and sharing great new ideas and programs to help animals.
Authenticity:
To do what we say we do.
Transparency:
To be open and honest in our relationships.
Text from the Best Friends Animal Society website.
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About the Best Friends Grant
Grant Awarded:
January, 2018
Value:
$200,000 for each of three years totaling $600,000.
Begins:
March, 2018 with a community meeting concerning community cats.
Duration of Grant:
three years
Resources Provided:
two full time Best Friends Society personnel based in Osceola County to deal with community cats including Trap, Neuter and Release, and community training and support;
one vehicle for Best Friends Society personnel;
traps, cages and other TNR equipment;
community training and training materials;
Best Friends’ nationally renowned, far-reaching resources;
development of a long-term plan for Osceola County to deal with feral cats and the issues that they create.
Visit their website at https://www.bestfriends.org.
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Program Goals
To significantly reduce the number of fertile Community Cats in the county to curb the
uncontrolled cat population growth disease, and nuisance behaviors.
Training will be available:
for community members
for Animal Services staff and
for Animal Services volunteers.
Trap and Release at county cat colonies
humanely trap Community Cats
transport cats
spay/neuter cats at local facilities – 2,500 per year for 3 years
rabies vaccinate and ear tip cats after recovery, return cats back into their colony.
Future Action Plan Development:
assist Osceola County Animal Services and the community in developing a sustainable, long term plan for Community Cats.
All about Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR)
About feline TNR; Trap, Neuter and Return.
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Community Cats Program Partners
Best Friends Animal Society
Snip It! Clinic
Osceola County Animal Services
Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando
Questions? Please contact the Community Cat Program by emailing communitycats@osceola.org
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