Cat Colony Program To Be Topic Of Freehold Town Hall

FREEHOLD, NJ — The borough is planning an informational meeting on its pilot TNR (trap, neuter, return) program on Tuesday.

And as welcome as the TNR program may be, several residents at a recent Borough Council meeting continued to express concern about a contracted animal control service used in the borough.

The town hall will discuss topics such as the intentions of the TNR program, rules and regulations, and allow people to sign up as colony caregivers, the borough notice of the meeting says.

The informational meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 6:30 p.m. at Freehold Borough Hall, 30 Mechanic St. The Borough of Freehold and Monmouth SPCA will be in attendance

According to Borough Business Administrator Stephen Gallo, the meeting will introduce the people who will be coordinating the program on behalf of the borough and the SPCA, and will be an opportunity to answer questions.

But the issue of homeless cats and particularly kittens came up again at the recent Borough Council meeting when resident Andrea Burica, an advocate for the TNR program, and others spoke before the council.

She expressed frustration about what she said is the lack of response by the town's contracted animal control service to transport sick, abandoned kittens for veterinary treatment.

She said Western Monmouth Animal Control, Manalapan Township, has not been transporting kittens that some residents find just days old and ill to the SPCA for treatment. The animal control service was not immediately available to respond to the comments on Monday.

Burica and other residents said they often are left with the task of helping the kittens survive from conditions such as wounds or even maggot infestation, they said.

Burica said the borough needs to "figure out a process" regarding how animal control is operating in the borough.

"Residents are picking up the pieces," she said.

She said when Western Monmouth Animal Control is called by a resident they should come out and personally inspect the situation and transport the animals to proper veterinary care.

But she said residents are often told to just leave the kittens out so the mother cat can care for them. But one kitten left out was killed by a predator recently, she said.

Councilwoman Annette Jordan expressed concern at the council meeting that "the onus is on our residents."

Western Monmouth Animal Control is a regional animal control service administered by the Manalapan Township Department of Health, according to the Manalapan website.

"The first priority of the animal control’s duties is to help injured or sick animals. All other calls regarding animals follow in priority," the website says.

But another resident who spoke at the council meeting said people with "big hearts" who see abandoned kittens often pay themselves to help them.

He said he was in a position to take a cat who needed help to a vet, but not everyone can.

"We need to get together as a team," the resident said.

The meeting on the TNR program follows the borough's adoption of an ordinance several months ago regulating a pilot program to control the colony cat population in the borough.

Under the pilot TNR program, cat colonies would be permitted and caregivers "shall be entitled to maintain them" in accordance with the the ordinance.

Any cat that is part of such a managed and registered colony would not be considered a "feral cat" for the purposes of the code, the ordinance says.

The pilot program would terminate two years from its effective date unless the council acts to continue it prior to that date.

The borough will study the effectiveness of the program no later than six months before the expiration of the pilot program, if it has not already acted to extend the program, according to the ordinance.