August 9, 2013 Supervisor David Durff South Newton Township P.O.

Box 11 Walnut Bottom, Pennsylvania 17266 Dear Supervisor Durff: Alley Cat Allies is concerned to read about South Newton Townships planned response to the recent rabies incident. We urge you not to proceed with the rounding up and needless killing of cats, which will do nothing to protect the public from the threat of rabies. Alley Cat Allies is the only national advocacy organization dedicated to the protection and humane treatment of cats. We have promoted the vaccination and neutering of feral cats since our founding in 1990, and we regularly advise individuals, nonprofit groups, local governments, and state policymakers on humane and effective approaches to cats. What will protect cats from the risk of rabies is a rabies vaccination. Alley Cat Allies is willing to sponsor a rabies vaccination clinic that would provide free rabies vaccinations to all animals in South Newton Township, if you withdraw the proposal to trap and kill outdoor cats. Alley Cat Allies would partner with Nobodys Cats, a respected animal protection organization located in Cumberland County, to provide vaccination services on-site in South Newton Township, and to increase awareness of the importance of vaccination and spay/neuter. More comprehensively, the best approach for feral cats is Trap-Neuter-Return, a management plan where feral cats already living outdoors are vaccinated against rabies and sterilized by a veterinarian. Neutering benefits cats by eliminating the cycle of reproduction, thus stabilizing the population, and reducing mating behaviors. Cat healthand public healthimproves through vaccination. Feral cats in Trap-Neuter-Return programs are not a rabies risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that there has not been a confirmed case of cat-to-human rabies in over 30 years. Wildlife, like raccoons, bats, skunks, and foxes, accounts for more than 90% of reported cases of disease. Rather than pose a risk, Trap-Neuter-Return is actually a safeguard against rabies because rabies vaccinations are a standard part of such programs. There has been never been a recorded instance of a cat in a Trap-Neuter-Return program contracting rabies. Further, public health officials who have studied the particular issues of feral cats find them to be of little public health concern. At a meeting of the California Conference of Local Health Officers Communicable Disease Control and Environmental Health Committees, Dr. Ben Sun, the California State Public Health Veterinarian, called the public health risks of feral cats low. Deborah L. Ackerman, M.S., Ph.D., an adjunct associate professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health, commenting on claims that feral cats are a threat to public health states, There's simply no evidence to back up these claims. A 2002 review of cat-associated diseases
7920 Norfolk Avenue, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-2525 240-482-1980 FAX: 240-482-1990 www.alleycat.org

published in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that, cats should not be thought of as vectors for disease transmission. South Newton Townships plan to trap and kill cats will do nothing to prevent future incidents from occurring. Instead, we encourage you to accept our offer of free rabies vaccinations to all animals in South Newton Township, if you withdraw the proposal to trap and kill outdoor cats. Alley Cat Allies would welcome the opportunity to work with you. You may reach me at wgomaa@alleycat.org or (240) 482-2581. Sincerely,

Associate Director of Law and Policy

7920 Norfolk Avenue, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-2525 240-482-1980 FAX: 240-482-1990 www.alleycat.org