EDWARDSVILLE — Officials updated Madison County’s Animal Care and Control ordinance Wednesday night, which will allow residents and rescue groups to carry out Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) for community cats.
“This ordinance will encourage partnerships between local groups and animal control to work together in preventing the deaths of feral cats,” Chairman Kurt Prenzler said.
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Prenzler said the county worked diligently to update its ordinances and bring them in line with state law. He said the new rules with go even further to avoid euthanizing feral cats.
“Years ago, the county killed two-thirds of the cats brought into animal control,” he said. “Now we are a ‘no kill’ facility. The county worked hard to achieve that status.”
Prenzler said when he first took office in 2016; one of his priorities was to make Madison County “no-kill.” In order to be a “no-kill” facility, there must be a 90 percent save rate for cats and dogs.
In March 2017, the Madison County Board passed a resolution for the county to become no-kill by Dec. 31, 2021.
“We not only reached our goal for ‘no-kill’ status, we surpassed it,” Prenzler said. “If it weren’t for the efforts of local rescue groups and organizations, we would have never accomplished this task.”
According to Animal Control records in 2021, the county saved 100 percent of the dogs taken in and 100 percent of the cats.
Animal Control Manager Katherine Conder agreed with Prenzler and said the success not only comes from the relationship between the county and rescue groups, but also due to a variety of policy changes during the past several years.
“Every healthy dog and cat is finding its way into a home,” Conder said. “Every feral cat that comes in also finds a place to live, thanks to a successful barn cat program.
Conder said the updated ordinance will allow a community cat caretaker to get a cat spayed or neutered and return it into an area where it lives. The ordinance also removes the language that states a person who feeds community cats as the owner.
Cats released through the TNR program are spayed/neutered, vaccinated and their ears tipped so rescuers and others in the community can recognize they are part of the TNR program.
“By approving this ordinance, Madison County will join hundreds of other communities across the country that have already embraced TNR,” Prenzler said.
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