Port Orange, FL - The city of Port Orange, the first city in Volusia County to enact a TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) program, is discontinuing the practice as of Friday, November 1. Vice Mayor/City Council District 2 Chase Tramont said a big reason to discontinue the program is the number of complaints received from residents and local businesses. In an email, city spokesperson Christine Martindale: "While this program has been successful at reducing the number of cats that need to be euthanized, it is unclear whether the program has met its ultimate goal of reducing the feral cat population in Port Orange as intended. During the budget process, the City decided to eliminate this portion of our program until we can determine whether there is a more effective and efficient way of dealing with the feral cat issue humanely but also taking into consideration limited taxpayer resources."
Pat Mihalic, co-founder of CCFAW (Concerned Citizens For Animal Welfare), said she received a letter last week stating, this is to serve notice that effective November 1, 2019, the City of Port Orange will no longer participate in the TNR program. The letter went on to say that the decision was made due to budget constraints for Fiscal Year 2020.
Mihalic says City Manager Jake Johansson responded to her email asking why the program would end. The email states that the TNR program was discussed five times during budget discussions and the decision was made to cut the funding on a program that was broken. He did say a workshop is scheduled for January to determine what to do next. Options include everything except the status quo.
According to Mihalic, the way Port Orange is handling the cat population now is much more costly than the TNR program. She said that Port Orange Animal Control has taken 480 cats to the shelter in 2018, costing the city $48,000. She said the amount per cat for what she calls the "Catch and Kill program is $88. The cost per cat for TNR is $40 so her question is "How is this saving money?"
For the city of Port Orange, the program is at an end. Mihalic says she hopes to resolve the issue before the next City Council regular meeting on Tuesday, November 5 at 6:30 p.m. She said if that doesn't happen, she and many others will be at the meeting to share their concerns during public comment.
