We appreciate the local health department weighing in on the issue of free roaming cats. Exactly as expected, Dr. Holt, the health department Director, re-itereated the importance of the Rabies Guide and the plain warning contained therein. Free roaming cats are not tenable on public health grounds, so it is past time for us to find better solutions.
Additionally, the health department noted a new initiative to ensure proper medical advice and reporting for Rabies. It turns out a local hospital and clinic recently failed to inform a bite victim of the possibility of Rabies exposure. Fortunately this time no harm appears to have occurred, but this is part of the problem with the no-kill myth: it “disneyfies” the animal world and pretends no risk is associated with stray animals.
Exactly as Dr. Holt opinined in our meeting recently, a county endorsed TNR program means a health disaster is “simply a matter of when” as the situation is entirely foreseeable. When that happens, Mr. Hallett will have that event at his doorstep should he continue forward with his feral cat plan.
You can read the Health Department memo here:
