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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>Visionaries:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>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:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><a href="https://www.uiargonaut.com/2016/08/29/seven-strays-gone-campus-vet-euthanizes-seven-feral-cats-during-the-summer/">https://www.uiargonaut.com/2016/08/29/seven-strays-gone-campus-vet-euthanizes-seven-feral-cats-during-the-summer/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>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 <b>2016</b>. 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 <b>lots</b> of good possible solutions that don’t end up with Dr. Death gassing cats & kittens.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>I have friends who live near the UI campus, and some of them have inside/outside cats. They are <b>not</b> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>And, it doesn’t help the UI’s black eye when Dr. Marty Becker – “American’s Veterinarian” – shares the shame with his <b>hundreds of thousands</b> 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!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>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 <b>humane</b> campus cat management policy, and stakeholders need to be included in the discussions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>Here's the link to the petition for those interested:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><a href="https://www.change.org/p/stop-trapping-and-killing-free-roaming-cats/c">https://www.change.org/p/stop-trapping-and-killing-free-roaming-cats/c</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>Saundra<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'>Moscow, ID<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#44546A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='color:#44546A'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='color:#44546A'>~ Francis of Assisi<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></div></body></html>