Hi!
It really bothers me when I see people elsewhere criticize "TNR" as though every implementation of it is the same, and is, they assert, not effective.
I work with an organization that has what we call a "TNR Program." It didn't start out like that, really. We did a few TNR projects as a group, and then we gradually realized as we did more work that we needed to establish some kind of process, some general guidelines, some standard ways of doing things.
We won a small grant for the program, fairly early on. And it was HUGELY helpful in showing us a lot that we could improve. It helped us realize that we should have a series of steps to follow (which is part of what makes it a "program") and that then, we could measure where we were on some or all of those steps with every project we did. And the idea of a "program" is that you can look at the measurements of its steps, and know if it is working, not working, or needs adjustment.
I don't think that this is a new idea -- but sometimes when people badmouth "TNR," what I see they are doing is badmouthing ONE idea of the CONCEPT of TNR. TNR might be wildly wonderful (pardon the pun!) but, if the one idea of it is badly done, outsiders can very easily make TNR LOOK bad. Too often, I see that the problems outsiders identify are actually with a lack of structure of a program, or with not following a common set of steps, or with not having very many instances of "TNR" to look over and assess.
I LOVE that so many individuals are willing to tackle doing TNR today. And no way would I want someone to NOT do TNR because they aren't able to form or find a group to join up with. But I wanted to say that if you can, if you feel like you have done a good job with a colony, and you still would like to do something else to help, you might want to consider designing a TNR Program. You might want to help someone near you to do TNR, and then, together, look over your notes and talk about what was good about the work, and what you would have liked to do differently. This is a perspective that a group that can do more than one or two projects, can bring to this work. And it is something that is still important, because although as caretakers we can clearly see that what we do works and is good, we should always be aware that more evidence, and better-designed programs, are what will sway people who have not had feral cats touch their lives.
It really bothers me when I see people elsewhere criticize "TNR" as though every implementation of it is the same, and is, they assert, not effective.
I work with an organization that has what we call a "TNR Program." It didn't start out like that, really. We did a few TNR projects as a group, and then we gradually realized as we did more work that we needed to establish some kind of process, some general guidelines, some standard ways of doing things.
We won a small grant for the program, fairly early on. And it was HUGELY helpful in showing us a lot that we could improve. It helped us realize that we should have a series of steps to follow (which is part of what makes it a "program") and that then, we could measure where we were on some or all of those steps with every project we did. And the idea of a "program" is that you can look at the measurements of its steps, and know if it is working, not working, or needs adjustment.
I don't think that this is a new idea -- but sometimes when people badmouth "TNR," what I see they are doing is badmouthing ONE idea of the CONCEPT of TNR. TNR might be wildly wonderful (pardon the pun!) but, if the one idea of it is badly done, outsiders can very easily make TNR LOOK bad. Too often, I see that the problems outsiders identify are actually with a lack of structure of a program, or with not following a common set of steps, or with not having very many instances of "TNR" to look over and assess.
I LOVE that so many individuals are willing to tackle doing TNR today. And no way would I want someone to NOT do TNR because they aren't able to form or find a group to join up with. But I wanted to say that if you can, if you feel like you have done a good job with a colony, and you still would like to do something else to help, you might want to consider designing a TNR Program. You might want to help someone near you to do TNR, and then, together, look over your notes and talk about what was good about the work, and what you would have liked to do differently. This is a perspective that a group that can do more than one or two projects, can bring to this work. And it is something that is still important, because although as caretakers we can clearly see that what we do works and is good, we should always be aware that more evidence, and better-designed programs, are what will sway people who have not had feral cats touch their lives.