[Vision2020] More BAD UI Publicity: Dr. Death Gassing Campus Cats & Kittens

[Saundra Lund]

Visionaries:

 

I'm surprised the topic hasn't come up here yet, but The Arg did an
excellent article about Dr. Death (Autenried) rounding up and using a
jury-rigged gas chamber to kill campus cats and kittens that weren't his
research animals:

https://www.uiargonaut.com/2016/08/29/seven-strays-gone-campus-vet-euthanize
s-seven-feral-cats-during-the-summer/

 

Reading The Arg is one of the things I enjoy most about the new academic
year starting, although I most sincerely wish this story wouldn't have been
necessary.  The whole debacle is just unfathomable with the available
resources.

 

The discussion of how to best and most humanely manage campus cat
populations is a complex one, but the "trap & gas" route the UI opted for is
an unacceptable one in 2016.  The UI has the resources on all levels to
develop, implement, and fund a humane campus cat management program - with
all the fund-raisers they employ, I'm certain they could even get corporate
sponsors to help out.  Or, maybe they could fund a catiary at HSOP so that
HSOP would have the facilities to appropriately house , rehab if necessary,
and place the cats & kittens trapped on campus.  An internship program could
be designed to allow credit in appropriate fields of study for interested
students.  And so forth.  There are lots of good possible solutions that
don't end up with Dr. Death gassing cats & kittens.

 

I have friends who live near the UI campus, and some of them have
inside/outside cats.  They are not happy to learn that any of their kitties
could have been trapped and gassed with no warning if they were in the wrong
place at the wrong time.

 

And, it doesn't help the UI's black eye when Dr. Marty Becker - "American's
Veterinarian" - shares the shame with his hundreds of thousands of
supporters.  OTOH, maybe that's what it's going to take to ensure that the
UI remove its head from where the sun don't shine!

 

Anyway, I hope those so inclined with join me in letting the UI know what
they've done is unacceptable and must STOP.  They need to come up with a
responsible and humane campus cat management policy, and stakeholders need
to be included in the discussions.

 

Here's the link to the petition for those interested:

https://www.change.org/p/stop-trapping-and-killing-free-roaming-cats/c

 

 

Saundra

Moscow, ID

 

Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there
is not enough.  We have a higher mission -- to be of service to them
whereever they require it.

~ Francis of Assisi

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20160830/a65d799a/attachment.html>