When we do a Trap Neuter Release [TNR] the cat gets a rabies vaccine. If that is handled through the shelter they do not get a tag because they know that cat's going to be re-released and no one's ever going to need to prove it was vaccinated. If anyone has any doubts they can just see that it's got a clipped ear and know that it's already been done.

But if it's done through a veterinary office, you get the tag. But the tag doesn't follow the cat. So I have a pile of rabies tags.

Keep thinking I need to get all the rabies tags that all the other TNR people have and do some kind of art project with them. Maybe get it put up at a local watering hole with a plea for people to donate to our local SPCA to help fund this work.

Future recipients of rabies tags:

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[–] whom_corvids_inform@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In a dive bar somewhere, a punk bassist is wishing for a pick that didn't break...

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Given the edges on these things I'm thinking that the strings will break much faster if you used these. Which would be pretty punk rock but isn't great during a show.

[–] Tujio@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, picks are waaay cheaper than strings. And you can hot swap them in the middle of a show.

Also, punk bassists shouldn't pick. Unless you're Matt Freeman. Then you can do whatever the fuck you want.

[–] crapwittyname@feddit.uk 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Stop telling punk bassists what to do.

[–] iamthetot@piefed.ca 2 points 1 day ago

Kinda feels like a punk bassist being told not to use a pick makes them even more punk for doing so.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"Each one represents a rabies I have killed."

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You do not want to be caught with rabies if a DNR officer stops you and you don't have a tag.

[–] isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Do Not Resuscitate officer

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

Close. Department of Natural Resources, aka the people that will ruin your life if you have a dead animal with you but not the proper tags.

[–] tektite@slrpnk.net 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thank you for your service.

Maybe a wind chime? The sound might help draw attention to it.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

These are like small aluminum discs so it would be like clanging to dimes together as far as resonance goes.

[–] SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago

I wonder if that would sound anything like rain, when you had a bunch of them.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Out of curiosity, why doesn't the tag go with the cat? It looks like it could fit on a collar.

Wouldn't it be easier for the person or clinic to keep paper records instead?

[–] Davel23@fedia.io 16 points 2 days ago

These are ownerless cats that are caught, neutered, then released back into "the wild", so to speak.

[–] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 days ago

In Tag Neuter and Release we're talking about feral kitties. They don't have collars and it is impractical to give feral cats collars.

[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 days ago

cats shouldn't have collars, it's not safe they can get stuck and injured them self with it, even with "safety" collars for cats

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

There is a permanent record at the clinic but it will likely never be accessed by anyone ever because this cat's going to get released into the wild and no one's going to know its name to look it up. It will have no chip to scan. It's a feral cat that will live in the wild.

[–] iltoroargento@startrek.website 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

This confused me as well.

What they are saying is that all cats get the ear clip to show they've been vaccinated, if the cat is not going to a forever home and is just being released back into the streets/wild.

Shelters have more intimate knowledge of whether or not the cat is going to be released, so they don't bother with the tags. Vet clinics don't handle releasing or holding cats and give a rabies tag to any cat that they vaccinate because they deal more with owners and pets who could have a reason to put such a tag on a collar.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The rabies tag should never be put on a collar. Collars get lost. Collars get broken and fall off. Break away collars get left behind. The tags are for your records, not for the animal's collar.

[–] iltoroargento@startrek.website 2 points 1 day ago

I agree. Not many cats even use collars. I thought they were the relic of some optimistic veterinary practices lol

[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Then shouldn't it be a paper certificate or plastic wallet-card? People generally don't have good ways to organise and store tags like these.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

It's an old system that is due for updates

[–] MolochHorridus@piefed.social -3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Someone really dumps neutered cats back into the wild? Why!? Poor babies.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Because they came from the wild. It's the space they know. They know where the food, water and shelter are. These aren't cute cuddly kittens. These are adult feral cats that will rip your face off. They can't be adopted. The alternative is euthanasia. So we put them back where we find them.

Unless we notice something weird. We caught one that wasn't coming out of sedation correctly. Very cold and twitching. We cuddled them up and kept them warm. We knew we weren't in danger because they were really not able to manage themself much less attack us.

They recovered and we kept them for observation for a few days. Dude was chill. We found that he had some kind of neurological issues. His back legs never worked correctly. We adopted him because there was no chance of him surviving in the wild. He was with us for just a couple of years before his kidneys failed.

But most cats, 99%, aren't chill. They will ram themselves against the trap. They will claw and bite you. Cats aren't domesticated. They are feral animals that with proper upbringing we trap in a kitten mentality. If they grow up without humans they will be the apex predators that will do everything possible to show you that they would rather die than give you control.

So yes. The wild. Because it's the best place for them.

How do we prevent this? Fix yo damn pets. Until everyone does that there is an army of volunteers putting them back where they found them but incapable of creating more cats and spreading rabies.

[–] nickiwest@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

If they grow up without humans they will be the apex predators that will do everything possible to show you that they would rather die than give you control.

(Emphasis mine)

... And now I'm going to hear, "Bow down before the one you serve; you're going to get what you deserve," in the context of a cat who feels that she deserves our worship. That song will never be the same again.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I can't take that away from you.

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 0 points 1 day ago

Meow down before the one you serve

[–] Pyro@pawb.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

These programs are in my opinion one of the cases of least evil. It does help the population not continue to grow and stops diseases and such.

The release part has no better answer, other then (almost always) putting them down. The impact those cats have on the environment ie birds, squirrels and practically everything else that moves and is small ish is horible and I wish that an answer for that could be done. I wish we had a better way

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Same

[–] PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Catch and release is pretty common in communities that are overrun with stray cats like mine. More sterilized cats on the streets means fewer cats reproducing in the same area.

[–] MolochHorridus@piefed.social -2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Most of them still suffer agonizing death because of disease, accident or deliberate cruelty. Cats also inflict death and destruction in the wild where they are not natural.

I love cats, and thus under no circumstances can I condone abandonment. There is alternatives, no matter how displeasing one of those is.

[–] LwL@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Dying from disease or accident is normal and called living. The ecosystem issue where they aren't native is very real but keeping wild cats caged in an overpopulated shelter is nothing short of torture for them (it's probably bad enough for domesticated cats). And I don't see how just killing them would be any better for the cats (tho arguably for the local ecosystem that would often just be the overall right move). Claiming to want to do either out of love for cats just seems extremely misguided.

[–] MolochHorridus@piefed.social -3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

No, it’s called abandonment if animal not fit to live in the wild is put out there to try and survive. If you fancy “normal” then why neuter and vaccinate either? Is it ok to do the same to other animals, like dogs for example?

Humans are really bad at correcting their mistakes.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They were abandoned before we trapped neutered and vaccinated them.

You want to fix the issue? Advocate for spaying and neutering pets.

I love that you asked about dogs. We didn't used to have spaying in neutering as a common thing for dogs. In the 1950s dogs roamed in packs throughout every neighborhood. They bred out of control. They spread disease. They attacked people. " You couldn't get elected as dog catcher" or variations along that phrase used to being incredibly common. Because it was a extremely common profession. Someone had to deal with all those stray dogs. And then we fixed it. We started encouraging spaying and neutering of dogs. So now instead of roving packs of dogs that would get rounded up and euthanized The population was controlled. Now if you see a stray dog, you wonder which house it escaped from. Back in the '50s you didn't ask that question. You just knew that it was a stray dog living moment by moment with no owners.

Fix yo damn pets.

[–] MolochHorridus@piefed.social -4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Fix your pets but don’t abandon any animal.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The animals were already abandoned. We're playing cleanup

[–] zane@infosec.pub 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You aren't going to get through to some of these people.

Thanks for doing good work. Also I like your batshit insane heathcliff edits.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I am from the internet. I'm here to confuse.

[–] MolochHorridus@piefed.social 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And you abandoned them again.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The alternative is euthanasia or leaving them to populate out of control.

[–] MolochHorridus@piefed.social 0 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

This is a spectrum where one end means most harm and the other least harm. The TNR sits closer to most harm than least harm all things considered.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 1 points 11 minutes ago

Then I ask that you not do anything and stay out of the way while you're there work to control the cat population. Because five cats definitely do more wildlife damage than one cat and we don't need people like you getting in the way of stopping progress.

[–] kolmaskommentoija@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 day ago

animal not fit to live in the wild

Cats are perfectly fit to live in the wild, they are apex predators with insane kill-ratios, that will decimate the local small fauna. Even most escaped housecats will survive just fine on their own. Only ones, that have some health conditions, or have been inbred, to have flat faces and excessive fur etc., cannot survive without human care.

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah the alternative is euthenasia. I guess that would be better for the ecosystem.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 0 points 2 days ago

Yeah for sure, can make blood and bone fertiliser