URGENT: Speak Up for Maryland’s Cats and Native Wildlife!

A bill that would harm cats and wildlife has passed the House of Delegates and is headed to the Maryland Senate. No other state has passed legislation that bars counties and municipalities from setting limits, safeguards, or conditions on if and when to “release” domestic cats into the wild. Maryland could set a dangerous and inhumane precedent.

House Bill 912 (HB 912) would do the following:

• Legalize the abandonment of vulnerable domestic animals (cats) by anyone claiming to be doing trap, neuter, and release (TNR), even if they are just feeding cats, without making any effort to sterilize them
• Prohibit local governments from requiring basic measures like registration of those claiming to be doing TNR (even if they are not) or establish effective procedures for addressing resident complaints about roaming cats and their welfare, impact on native wildlife, and more
• Give negligent animal owners a free pass to abandon social “house cats” by claiming that these owned cats are part of a homeless colony
• Allow and encourage shelters and other groups to abandon social, perfectly adoptable cats—even those who may have been recently abandoned and have never spent a day outside
• Endanger cats, wildlife, and the public

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HB 912 also lacks provisions to protect the rights of those private property owners who don’t want cats on their properties and perceive cats as a “nuisance.” Frustrated property owners often harm cats out of frustration when their complaints fall on deaf ears. For example:

• In Boonsboro, six cats who were homeless or allowed to roam outdoors without supervision were recently found dead and two more were found injured after they were shot with steel razor-tip blow gun darts.
• In Clear Spring, two roaming cats had to be euthanized after they were found badly injured from gunshots.
• In Conowingo, two homeless cats who were purportedly “part of a managed feral colony” were found shot to death.
• In Washington County, two roaming cats died after being shot with arrows.

When property owners are denied a legal method of resolving complaints about animals, animals suffer.

This dangerous bill even goes so far as to prohibit localities from requiring colony feeders to register, a commonsense requirement that can help ensure that abandoned cats are vaccinated, sterilized, and provided with needed care. It would also restrict local governments from establishing procedures to protect cats who are perceived to be a nuisance.

HB 912 contains no language to curb, control, or prevent the undeniable threat that cats pose to wildlife populations, animals who are already under great strain because of human interference and environmental degradation. Domestic cats are an invasive, non-native predator in North America, and they prey upon, maim, and kill small mammals and birds, regardless of whether they have consistent access to a food source. Fragile native animals who are hunted by free-roaming cats aren’t equipped to deal with such effective predators, and their unnecessary suffering and deaths have a negative impact on area ecosystems.

You Can Help

Please send an e-mail to members of the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee today and urge them to vote against this bad bill.

Maryland’s wildlife and homeless and neglected cats need you.

Please forward this message to others in Maryland who might be willing to lend their support to this important issue. Thank you for your willingness to act and for your compassion for animals.

Please address your e-mail to the following:

The Honorable Brian J. Feldman, Chair
Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee

You can cut and paste the following e-mails into the “To” field of your e-mail message to contact all members of the committee.

[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Please feel free to use our sample letter, but remember that using your own words is always more effective.