Forty veterinary hospitals throughout Hillsborough County say that Alley Cat Allies make fraudulent statements supporting TNR

The Hillsborough Animal Health Foundation (HAHF), which is supported by 40 animal hospitals throughout Hillsborough County say, on their website, that the well-known and well-respected Alley Cat Allies make fraudulent statements in support of trap-neuter-release (TNR) programs. That’s quite a strong statement to make, which is why I am reporting it. It is almost defamatory.

The biggest objection that HAHF have with TNR is that it allows feral cats to continue to spread disease to people. TNR creates or perpetuates a public health concern. We have heard this many times before.

I’d like to address that initially. Feral cats exist because of poor cat ownership. If they present a health hazard to people then TNR works to eliminate that hazard by gradually minimising the numbers of feral cats. On that basis TNR helps to remove health risks in the community from feral cats. So I don’t really follow their argument. There are also question marks on the disease spreading allegation.

What HAHF wants is a more complex version of TNR which includes a novel idea: a “feral cat containment plan”. At least HAHF want a humane solution to the “feral cat problem”.

They want to set up sanctuaries funded by the taxpayer in which colonies of feral cats can be managed. The sanctuaries would confine the cats thereby preventing them from attacking wildlife and transmitting disease to people.

There are other aspects to their complex program which includes ways to minimise owner surrenders, indoor cats only, better shelters, improving cat caretaking through training and obligatory registration etc.. There is more. The big difference is the containment – the HAHF ‘Containment’ Plan.

Back to the claim that Alley Cat Allies (ACA) is one of the TNR supporters who hold “misguided opposition viewpoints”.

ACA is the leading cat TNR organisation. HAHF say that ACA’s facts are wrong and worse:

“..the alleged facts are either extreme distortions of medical papers (at best) or outright fraudulent (at worse).”

HAHF says that the ACA website or fact sheet states that “there is simply no evidence to back up the position that cats spread disease”. And that “No Danger From Rabies” exists from feral cats. HAHF strongly contest these views and say that ACA are making up “facts”. The claim that they are false statements and call them fraudulent.

HAHF claims that veterinarians are aware of the following numbers:

  • 455 People in Florida given Rabies Shots from Cat Attacks in 2010!
  • 1 of every 4 Americans infected with Toxoplasmosis!
  • 2.4 BILLION (avg) Birds Killed by Feral Cats Each Year!
  • 455 People in Florida given Rabies Shots from Cat Attacks in 2010!
  • 30,000 +/- Kids are Hospitalized Each Year from Cat Scratch Disease!

I’d like to comment on some of these points because they seem to be misjudged or downright fraudulent.

As for cat scratch disease I would have thought that 99% of cases were caused by mishandling of domestic cats not feral cats. That immediately undermines their claim that feral cats are to blame.

As for the rabies shots. Perhaps they were given as a precaution notwithstanding that the cat did not have rabies. Another misrepresentation.

As for toxoplasmosis, perhaps the cause was eating undercooked meats or the transference of cysts came from domestic cats in the yards of their owners. Do we know? Can we assume that feral cats are to blame?

As for the killing of wildlife, the figures are extrapolated estimates from small scale, localised studies. We don’t know the impact of feral cats on wildlife so it is misleading to make bold statement as if they were facts.

It seems that HAHF are highly hypocritical. They have an agenda and will do anything to pursue it. They are probably backed by ornithologists.

This is their page on the internet as to why TNR is wrong.

I have been told that HAHF have deliberately tried to undermine TNR.




15 thoughts on “Forty veterinary hospitals throughout Hillsborough County say that Alley Cat Allies make fraudulent statements supporting TNR”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. MARIANNA, I have my cats vaccinated every year. It’s quite an undertaking with the number of cats that I caretake. I begin trapping late March. It takes me around 3 months to complete most of the time; but, each year is taking a little longer because the cats are wise to those traps now. I have to get very creative. I, also, learned long ago to create a system to keep track of which are done in order to prevent any duplication.

    As far as illnesses, the answer is yes. If I suspect that any cat is ill, they’re going to be treated if I can get them. I keep big pieces of old comforters and tackle them if they won’t go into traps. There are always exceptions though. Sometimes, a cat will be ill and suddenly disappear before I’m able to trap them.

  3. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/
    http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/epi.html this is clear that food is the most common culprit. Also,cats get it by eating……BIRDS!,rats and other small animals. Hmmmm…their favored birds are giving cats diseases. They all want to wage war on cats when in fact other species infect the cats. Ironic?

    Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. More than 60 million people in the U.S. have the parasite. Most of them don’t get sick. But the parasite causes serious problems for some people. These include people with weak immune systems and babies whose mothers become infected for the first time during pregnancy. Problems can include damage to the brain, eyes, and other organs.

    You can get toxoplasmosis from

    Waste from an infected cat
    Eating contaminated meat that is raw or not well cooked
    Using utensils or cutting boards after they’ve had contact with contaminated raw meat
    Drinking infected water
    Receiving an infected organ transplant or blood transfusion
    Most people with toxoplasmosis don’t need treatment. There are drugs to treat it for pregnant women and people with weak immune systems.

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    As we all know,cats are not the monsters they want us to believe.

  4. One important fact we do know is that cats aren’t the only carriers of Bartonella. Currently, 27 species of animals that may harbor the Bartonella organism have been identified. Of course, not all of these can infect humans, but research is ongoing to identify those animals that can. There are still many questions about human bartonellosis to be answered.

    How common is cat scratch disease?

    It is not possible to give accurate estimates of the prevalence of CSD because not all cases are diagnosed or reported. However, it is thought to be a somewhat uncommon disease. Surveys carried out in the United States indicate that about 5% of the population has been exposed to infection, but only a small percentage of these people reported having the disease. It is likely that many human Bartonella infections go unnoticed without symptoms and appear to be nothing more than a mild “cold.” Once infected, most humans seem to develop some form of immunity against Bartonella. Kittens are more likely than adult cats to be infected and to pass the bacterium to people. Experts believe that about 40% of cats carry B. henselae at some point in their lives. Cats that carry B. henselae do not show any signs of illness; therefore, you cannot tell which cats can spread the disease.

    The term cat scratch disease also incorrectly implies that cats are the only source of transmission and infection. Although cats are a major reservoir for B. henselae and other Bartonella species that can cause human disease, some people infected with Bartonella have no history of a cat scratch or bite wound, and others have had no known contact with cats. In these people, transmission from environmental sources, various biting insects, or other animal hosts is likely.

    How do humans become infected?

    Although many cases of CSD follow a scratch from a cat, this is not universally true, as mentioned above. A few cases have occurred in people with no apparent contact with cats. Recent evidence suggests that the major route of cat infection with B. henselae is by a flea bite. Infected cats carry the microorganism in their blood, where it can be present in extremely high numbers. When a flea feeds on an infected cat, it ingests large numbers of the B. henselae organisms, some of which it is speculated may make their way into a human the next time the flea takes a meal. However, so far there is no evidence that a bite from an infected flea can give you CSD. A primary concern is that a cat bitten by a B. henselae–infected flea will leave excrement (flea dirt) on the cat that can be transmitted to humans and cause the disease.

    http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/cat-scratch-disease/64 or

    http://www.drgreene.com/qa-articles/catscratch-disease/

    Cat scratch fever affects less than three in 100,000 people, and, on average, it is estimated that only 22,000 instances occur in the U.S. each year.
    If there are no blood tests given,cases are misdiagnosed.

    http://www.galaxydx.com/web/pdfs/Whatisbartonella.pdf

    You can find plenty of facts on this,unlike the propaganda they are spreading.

  5. http://www.statisticbrain.com/rabies-virus-statistics/

    This for 2015, nationwide, US. I think someone is lying. HAHF?

    These are rabies cases nationwide,2010.

    Summary—During 2010, 48 states and Puerto Rico reported 6,154 rabid animals and 2 human rabies cases to the
    CDC, representing an 8% decrease from the 6,690 rabid animals and 4 human cases reported in 2009. Hawaii and
    Mississippi did not report any laboratory-confirmed rabid animals during 2010. Approximately 92% of reported rabid
    animals were wildlife. Relative contributions by the major animal groups were as follows: 2,246 raccoons (36.5%),
    1,448 skunks (23.5%), 1,430 bats (23.2%), 429 foxes (6.9%), 303 cats (4.9%), 71 cattle (1.1%), and 69 dogs (1.1%).
    Compared with 2009, number of reported rabid animals decreased across all animal types with the exception of a
    1% increase in the number of reported rabid cats.

    Two cases of rabies involving humans were reported from Louisiana and Wisconsin in 2010. Louisiana reported
    an imported human rabies case involving a 19-year-old male migrant farm worker who had a history of a vampire
    bat (Desmodus rotundus) bite received while in Mexico. This represents the first human rabies case reported in the
    United States confirmed to have been caused by a vampire bat rabies virus variant. Wisconsin reported a human
    rabies case involving a 70-year-old male that was confirmed to have been caused by a rabies virus variant associated
    with tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus). So,where did they get their stats?

    They read the graphs wrong and neglected what the article said,just my opinion.
    http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10.2460/javma.239.6.773

    I will be back with more……and we all know,true cases of cat scratch fever are rare,and toxoplasmosis is mainly from infected foods.

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