Fayette County approves care plan for stray cats

After several years of discussion with animal advocates, the Fayette County Board of Commissioners on May 14 approved an ordinance to allow a trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) program for feral and free-roaming community cats.

The county’s animal control department will issue two-year permits to volunteer groups, who must get written permission from property owners before humanely trapping cats and coordinating with participating veterinarians to get the cats spayed or neutered and vaccinated for rabies and distemper before returning the cats to their outdoor homes. The goal is to reduce the stray cat population and reduce the risk of disease, which will decrease the county animal shelter’s costs for intake and euthanasia.

The county will collect annual data from the program and evaluate its effectiveness over a five- to seven-year period. The Fayette Humane Society, which helped implement a trial TNVR program in 2014, endorsed the plan.