Tel Aviv's stray cats no longer have to go hungry
New SOS campaign aims to distribute organized feeding bowls to end starvation, maintain city hygiene.
By Noah Kosharek Tags: Israel news Tel AvivThe S.O.S. Pet Association announced Sunday the launch of a campaign for the distribution of 2,700 feeding bowls throughout Tel Aviv, which will be placed on streets, in front of residential buildings, restaurants and cafes in efforts to establish an organized feeding system for the city's stray cats.
The campaign will begin on Monday, during which 350 bowls will be distributed from Rothchild Boulevard to restaurants and cafes, as well as pedestrians interested in participating.
The association said that they were aware of the fact that feeding stray cats often becomes a conflict between neighbors, which is why they have decided to try and impose a more organized and aesthetically pleasing feeding system for cats which might otherwise have starved to death because the trash bins have shut lids.
"The idea behind the campaign is to maintain hygiene at residential compounds, so the whole issue will stop being a nuisance," said Ricki Batzri, CEO of S.O.S. Pet Association.
She added that initially, the association's volunteers might be responsible for filling the bowls with food and water, with the hope that the city's residents will continue the tradition themselves.
Another campaign goal is to spay the cats in order to control their reproduction and diminish their numbers, and getting the cats to congregate makes this task a lot easier.
Anticipating the possible criticism that could be directed at the campaign, such as the fact that the presence of so many feeding bowls in the streets will only increase the amount of stray animals, Batzri said that "the cats are already there, whether they are hungry or well fed - they are there."
"If they receive more food, they will look much better, they won't be so pathetic and we will also be able to start talking to neighbors about reducing their presence by having them spayed," she added.
The campaign was first launched in Herzliya, where the group distributed over 200 feeding bowls to cafes and restaurants that were interested in participating, as well as to people at residential buildings that fed street cats on a regular basis.
Ramat Gan resident Ofer Gur, who has been feeding stray cats for two years, said that feeding the cats helps diminish their numbers.
"Every time I bring them food around 10 to 15 cats that I recognize come running," he said.
"I can also recognize which of them are spayed and when I spot one that isn't I call S.O.S. to come and pick it up," he added.
He continued to explain that because he feeds them regularly and in an organized manner, his neighbors don't mind their presence.
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A food bowl provided by the S.O.S. Pet Association |
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Please find more information about reducing stray cat populations at www.humanesociety.org/feralcats. Good luck! Nancy Peterson Cat Programs Manager The Humane Society of the United States
How does a spray stop cats from reproducing? Sounds a bit fishy to me! And if it works, will the spray stop the "conflicting neihbors" from breeding too? I would expect a marked drop of human fertility in the TA region coinciding with the launch of this project. Just spray and whammo!
This is great news. Soon I will be back living in Israel and want to feed as many cats as I can myself. Kol HaKavod!!
Any nation that doesn't care for its animals cannot truly call itself an enlightened nation. So proud of Israel today.
Kol Hakavod!
First of all, these are not stray cats who happened to wander away from their homes. These are feral street cats. Feeding these feral cats obviates their need to hunt and it is their hunting that helps control the rodent and snake population. So, NO to feeding feral cats.
WTF!
I also agree with the following from the article: " we will also be able to start talking to neighbors about diminishing their presence by having them spayed"! Right.
Cats are very well capable of surviving as a semi wild animal in a town like Tel Aviv.There is no need to feed these (wild) animals who very much weel adobt as semi wild animal in urban enviroment. Feeding these streetcats is doing them more harm then good. Without feeding, only strong healty streetcats will survive. Feeding streetcats will result in less healty offspring and a to large offspring of streetcats. The cat is not an animal which needs us to survive! A dog however is dependend on human beeings in urban enviroment. So in long term these people will cause more damage to the streetcats then good.
Great that this country doesn't have real problems, and people can think about kitties
Excellent initiative!! Spaying is as important as feeding though.Neutered cats hardly fight, keep to their territory and once fed, they will be perfectly content. They will prevent rats and mice to roam around. These cats will have energy to be friendly with everyone who has a minute a day to caress and relate to them, Kol Hakavod for the initiative,
On a recent visit to Jerusalem, I was horrified when I awoke covered with flea bites all over my legs, abdomen and neck. I found one tiny black bug on my salon floor. Its back was vertically flattened and virtually impossible to kill. An exterminator took me down to the garden and showed me the cats and the fleas that can jump 1 meter diredtly onto my legs and the crawl straight through my fishnet socks and eat me all up. He said it's a plague all over Jerusalem. So next time you pass that dumpster and cats jump out, be aware that chances are they are flea infested and will send some of their ectoparasites straight your way. The municipality is certainly aware of the problem and has done nothing. Nir Barkat, please. How about some animal control?
Bravo!!!!!
I guarantee we have more cats per capita here and they will invade Tel Aviv if you don't spay them. Just apply the prevailing mentality about demographic threats of Palestinians to this neighborhood's cats as well! Maybe SOS should consider destroying the homes of cats and forcing them out to other cat ghettos somewhere else...out of sight, out of mind. Don't cats originate in Egypt? Maybe we should return them all there since their brothers and sisters live there too. Cats can't appreciate the comforts of Jewish life in Tel Aviv, so in general we should feed them, but recognize that it's only because of our massive graciousness that we "allow" them to walk around. Too many scratches and it's off to the medical supply company for dissection.
Me and my wife decided to adopt a (then-) small, 5 month old cat which other people in our neighborhood had put outside a week or two before. I had heard about the little cat from children of our neighbors, who tried to care for him as much as they could. One night I wondered how he was doing, so I went outside in the middle of the night and found him outside close to our house, looking weak and getting sick - so I took him home... and since then, he has become a member of our family and is completely healthy. :)