Laredo Animal Care Services (LACS) is announcing a significant change in its approach to managing the community cat population. Effective August 1st, 2024, LACS will implement a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program, focusing on sterilizing stray cats and returning them to their environments. In order for LACS to focus on higher priority situations they will no longer be picking up stray cats. Therefore, as part of this new policy, it is encouraged for citizens to call if they would like to bring in a stray cat. 

Recognizing the need for a more compassionate and effective solution, LACS has embraced TNR as the optimal strategy for managing these cats. TNR involves the humane trapping of community cats, followed by sterilization performed by a veterinarian, vaccination against rabies, ear tipping for easy identification, and returning the cats to their original locations. This approach prevents further breeding and helps stabilize and gradually reduce the cat population over time. Numerous successful TNR programs nationwide have demonstrated that this method also reduces nuisance behaviors associated with unaltered cats, such as yowling, spraying, and fighting. The program promotes community involvement and encourages responsible pet ownership.