Remember our constant posts on the fate of feral cats of Utah, which was in the hands of some controversial bills? The House Bill 210 proposed that anyone could kill an animal that they judged to be feral and so there will be no cruelty charges against that person. This meant lots of family pets could have been killed and would have affected the feral cat population also.
The Oda bill was adamant on making it legal to shoot cats and feral animals in unincorporated areas. Luckily, the bill never made it before the Senate and was not passed into the law, thanks to so much of active protests by animal lovers and activists.
The best news is that another bill was passed, Utah Senate Bill 57, which was presented by Best Friends together with Senator Dennis Stowell. This bill officially sanctions the TNR (trap, neuter and return) program of feral cats and is a humane solution towards community cat management.
According to this program, the hold time in shelters would be now five days giving more animals a chance to find a new home or find their original owners.
Well, it is a good achievement in the sense that an inhumane bill was not passed and a better solution was reached. My only concern is that 5 days is too short a time. I do know space is a big concern when animals are being rescued in plenty, however, 5 days is not ample time to find new homes or to locate original pet owners.
If you are working so hard to save them then the animals should be given more chance to live freely. Why are we taking their fate into our hands? Who are we to put them down in 5 days? The goodness needs to be evaluated too I feel.
