 "Photo: Mike Elman | Valley Star")
In ancient Egypt they were worshiped, in cartoons they chase mice, and at Valley College cats are welcome and well cared for. The cats that live on campus are feral, but a few people have a soft spot for the strays, which turns out to be a good thing for the campus.
The number of cats and dogs killed in Los Angeles shelters went up 25 percent between 2007-2009, according to Sheltertrak.com. Thanks to Valley's trap, neuter, and release program, or TNR, a serious dent has been put in that figure over the last few years.
"It was just bananas around here with kittens," said Tom Jacobsmeyer, vice president of administrative services, about Valley's feral cat population. "We were able to control the population with the TNR program and nothing else."
Of course opinions vary widely on the subject of what is cruelty to animals and what isn't. Some tend to think of cats as disposable, so why not just exterminate them. Certainly some just don't care one way or the other about feral cats, or don't consider them a problem. Unfortunately, Los Angeles does. In the last five years L.A. Animal Services has taken in over 100,000 cats, according to their Web site, and almost 60,000 of which were euthanized. A good chunk of the funding for this comes from tax-payers. Programs like the one at Valley are done on a volunteer basis and cost the tax payers nothing.
The number of cats euthanized in L.A. is consistent from one year to the next. To get rid of one population is to make room for another. The TNR program at Valley has driven the number of cats on campus from 160 a few years ago to 30 or 40 today, according to Jacobsmeyer.
"I think it's cool actually," said student Ivette Becerra. "We can be so selfish. It's good to do something for other living things."
It is not just an argument of animal cruelty. It is an argument of funding and effectively reducing feral cat populations. Sure, spay and neutering is costly surgery. Just putting the cat down is probably cheaper per animal, but in the long run bringing down the population would be cheaper than killing thousands of felines every year. If they had any sense, Los Angeles would take a lesson from Valley, and emphasize a TNR program over euthanizing.
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