Creating a Brighter Future for Community Cats in the South

Alley Cat Rescue's new Alliance for Cat Protection program is building a network of support for shelters throughout the United States. Alliance shelters receive comprehensive training in humane programs for community cats, including public workshops and staff training that save animals' lives. Our dedicated team visits each Alliance community to transform it from top to bottom through education and hands-on support, even holding a field training in which colonies of cats are trapped, neutered, and returned.
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In the last month, our team conducted workshops in Mercer County West Virginia and Vance County North Carolina. We specifically chose to work with these shelters because they recently had a change in directors who brought new visions and a more progressive approach to assisting animals in shelters. These directors were excited to welcome our trainers and were open to learning the best practices of humanely managing community cats.
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At each shelter we spent one whole day working with the entire staff. From field officers to receptionists, we provided training on how to respond to phone calls and emails so that more cats are kept out of the shelter and remain in their homes, along with detailed instructions on navigating conflict resolution. We also trained staff on how to properly implement a community cat (TNR) program, how to get the community more involved, and we even discussed the topic of fundraising to assist shelters in receiving the financial support they need to help more cats.  
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During the second day of each workshop, we went out into the community for a hands-on training session. We taught shelter staff and members of the community how to properly trap and transport cats, along with explaining to them the importance of TNR programs for free-roaming cats. We spoke with neighbors, telling them how they can be most effective in helping community cats and how they can participate in the shelter’s community cat program.

In both West Virginia and North Carolina, we received lots of wonderful feedback from the staff and community members, along with heartfelt appreciation and gratitude from the shelter directors. Our presence and training was beyond well received and we couldn’t be happier! ACR’s new Alliance for Cat Protection program is giving these shelters and these communities the kick start they so desperately need to implement successful TNR programs. Our workshops provide shelters with not only the knowledge of managing community cats, but we also show them how to implement the information through hands-on training and we provide them with a support system, so if they have any future questions they can easily follow up with us. All these shelters needed was a little boost to show them it’s not difficult to implement a TNR program for their community and now they are on their way to saving a lot more lives!
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As always thank you for your continued support! Your generous donations make these workshops possible. You can also help cats in your community by ordering a few copies of “Alley Cat Rescue’s Guide to Managing Community Cats” – that lays out the best practices for implementing a TNR program and which our training workshops are based off of – and donate them to your local shelter.  

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