Advocates fear cats will be put to death: Seaside Heights vote tonight

SEASIDE HEIGHTS — An animal advocacy group's last-minute attempt to get Seaside Heights to table a vote on its feral cat ordinance — a move some advocates fear could mean dozens of cats will be put to death — has failed.

The Maryland-based group Alley Cat Allies sent a letter to Mayor Tony Vaz asking the vote to be delayed because of concerns that "the borough council are ending, in all but name, a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program that has been successful in sterilizing and vaccinating hundreds of community cats since 2013, even placing many kittens in homes,” Rebekah DeHaven, senior attorney and associate director of humane law and policy for Alley Cat Allies wrote.

DeHaven cites a successful TNR program in Atlantic City that Alley Cat Allies helped implement as a "national model."

Seaside Heights Administrator Christopher Vaz told New Jersey 101.5 the vote is still on for Wednesday night as scheduled.

"It's going to be voted on tonight. A lot of thought went into it. At this point it is what it is and I suspect that Alley Cat Allies will never agree with anything we do. We're just moving forward, and we're going to handle the problem. It's a local problem, not an Alley Cat Allies problem."

The borough recently decided to end a local trap-neuter-release program, which allowed feral cats to live outside after they’ve been spayed or neutered. The new ordinance would allow TNR in the borough, but excludes feral cat colonies from being established in the oceanfront or beachfront areas, and require neighbors' permission.

Colonies would have to be registered and be limited to 10 cats each. Feral cats found in the areas that don't allow colonies would be taken to a shelter in Jackson, where they might eventually be euthanized.

In a letter to  Mayor Vaz, DeHaven said she waned to meet with the town to address their concerns and offered to help implement a better ordinance.

DeHaven said the group, which claims its supporters have sent 6,500 emails to Mayor Vaz and council members stating their opposition, will have representatives at the  meeting.

In a letter to last month, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says the group supports the borough’s recent decision to end its trap-neuter-release program.

PETA maintains that TNR itself is cruel because domestic cats are not equipped to live outdoors and they can cause considerable ecological damage by killing birds and other mammals.

“Homeless cats are forced to fight (and lose) daily battles against parasites, deadly contagious diseases, dehydration when their water sources evaporate or freeze, speeding cars, loose dogs and malicious people,” PETA Animal Care and Control Specialist Teresa Chagrin writes in her letter.

“Cats should be taken to open-admission animal shelters for a chance at adoption, even if euthanasia is the most humane option that can be provided in some cases," it wrote.

Lisa Franciosi, the president of the Seaside Heights Animal Welfare Organization, has called PETA’s position “despicable.”

But TNR programs are endorsed by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and by the Humane Society.

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