Drastic drop in euthanasia of Anne Arundel community cats

HARWOOD, MD – April 12, 2021 – A homeless, stray, or abandoned cat had a dismal outlook in Anne Arundel County in 2013: at-risk for rabies, infections, multiple litters, and, unfortunately, euthanasia. That year, there were 1009 feral cats that were euthanized at Anne Arundel County Animal Care and Control (AACACC). Their lives were ended prematurely because they were too wild to be handled or adopted and because county law prohibited the outdoor release or abandonment of a cat.

A “community cat” law in 2018 changed all of that. This law legalized trap-neuter-return (TNR), the practice of returning cats to their outdoor homes following the spay/neuter surgeries, rabies vaccination, and ear tipping (a clipping of the ear tip that marks the cats as having been sterilized). When asked for comment about why the law was so important, John Grasso, the then-Anne Arundel County Councilman who helped enact it, stated, “You don’t mess with people’s children…and you don’t mess with their cats.”

Prior to the community cat law, Rude Ranch Animal Rescue (RRAR) was working behind the scenes with a coalition of animal welfare partners to perform TNR and to promote its legalization. With the legal victory, RRAR launched SAVECats (Spay/Neuter and Vaccinate Every Cat), a program that spays/neuters and returns community cats to their outdoor homes; partners with a legion of TNR volunteers working to reduce and control the community cat population; assists caregivers, stakeholders, and local residents with colony management and tracking; and supports AACACC with community cat and kitten medical care, adoption, fostering, and relocation.

Robin Catlett, AACACC administrator, has been tracking the effectiveness of the program. As a consequence of the law and of RRAR’s proactive and aggressive SAVECats program, there were only 107 community cats euthanized at AACACC in 2020 – an almost 10-fold reduction from 2013. Only four cats suffered this fate in the first quarter of 2021, a testimony to the strong, sustained, and fruitful partnership between RRAR and AACACC. “[With] government, non-profits, and community members working together, we are seeing drastic change in our cat intake and cat euthanasia numbers,” Catlett said.

Robert Rude, founder and former executive director of RRAR and creator of SAVECats, is “ecstatic that our efforts to help community cats led to this incredibly successful collaboration. Thanks to everyone who pulled together to make this happen.” Catlett anticipates sustained cooperation and that AACACC will “continu[e] to work with….our partners at SAVECats who are well versed in problem solving to ease concerns while simultaneously saving lives.”

SAVECats has been supported by a grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Spay and Neuter Grant program for three consecutive years and has performed over 3000 spay/neuter surgeries since inception; it is in consideration for a fourth year of funding.

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Founded in 2001, Rude Ranch Animal Rescue (RRAR) is a volunteer-based, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the rescue, care, and adoption of homeless animals in the Maryland-Washington, DC-Virginia metropolitan area. In October, 2012, RRAR opened the Spay Spa & Neuter Nook (SSNN) a regional, high-quality, low-cost spay/neuter clinic, centrally located in Davidsonville, MD. RRAR has adopted out over 5,000 animals, facilitated the veterinary care and fostering of more than 10,000 additional animals, performed over 50,000 spay/neuter surgeries, and partnered with 138 animal rescue and welfare organizations.

The SAVECats (Spay/Neuter And Vaccinate Every Cat) program is run by RRAR out of the SSNN clinic. In the first three years, the program facilitated the spay/neuter over 3,000 feral/free roaming and community cats in Anne Arundel County. If you need assistance or are interesting in helping with community cats, please contact info@aacsavecats.org.

For more information about our sanctuary, clinic, or program, please visit www.ruderanch.org, www.spayspa.org, and www.accsavecats.org.