| Alley Cat Rescue | |
| Formation: | 1997 |
| Type: | 501(c)(3) |
| Founded Date: | 2001 |
| Location: | Mount Rainier, Maryland |
| Key People: | Louise Holton, President |
| Area Served: | North America, South Africa |
| Focus: | welfare of all cats: domestic, stray, abandoned and feral |
| Revenue: | $3.1 million (year ending 07/2022) |
Alley Cat Rescue is an international nonprofit organization, headquartered in Mount Rainier, Maryland, that works to protect cats using trap–neuter–return for community cats; rescue, and neuter before adoption; promoting compassionate, non-lethal population control; and by providing national and international resources for cat caretakers.[1]
Alley Cat Rescue is leading the way in promoting humane and compassionate care for ALL cats.
The organization was founded in 1997 by President Louise Holton, who had previously cofounded Alley Cat Allies.[2]
Holton worked in her home country of South Africa in the mid-1970s with the Johannesburg SPCA on TNR programs and brought to the U.S. her contacts in the United Kingdom to help set up TNR programs there. She has worked with biologist and world-famous author Roger Tabor, veterinarian and TNR pioneer Jenny Remfry, the Universities Federation of Animal Welfare (U.K.), as well as the British Cat Action Trust.[3]
ACR works to put an end to the myths and misinformation surrounding feral and stray cats, which the organization claims are often used as scapegoats for complex environmental problems such as the depletion of bird and other wildlife populations. ACR promotes the concept that all animals deserve respect and compassion, and that humane, non-lethal methods for controlling their populations, such as Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), should be used. All of ACR’s mailings include calls to action that will aid in safeguarding the health and lives of cats.[4] These calls to action are also posted on ACR's Facebook page, monthly E-Newsletters, and website.[5]
ACR gives grants to organizations that practice TNR in the United States and other countries.
ACR also spearheads an annual Global Feral Fix Challenge is an annual campaign that encourages veterinarians to provide as many free or low-cost spay/neuter surgeries for community cats as possible throughout the year. The purpose of the campaign is to promote TNR. Alley Cat Rescue launched the campaign under the original name “Feral Cat Spay Day” (FCSD) in 2010.[6] In 2020, the campaign was expanded to cover the whole year in order to increase its impact for cats.
The 2022 Challenge saw participation from veterinarians and clinics across 25 U.S. states as well as Greece, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates, who together sterilized around 51,000 community cats. In past years, vets from a total of all 50 U.S. states, Antigua, Canada, Croatia, Israel, India, Japan, Nicaragua, and England have also taken part in the Challenge. The grand total of cats spayed or neutered as a result of the yearly Challenge is over 230,000.[7]
ACR provides the public with the most recent information on felines on their website, social media pages, and direct mailings.
ACR publishes biannual newsletters and other mailings year-round to disseminate information about their programs and the impacts they are having in the community. These publications also highlight current events relating to cat welfare with specific actions the readers can take to help the affected cat populations.
ACR has distributed over 780,000 pet trust brochures to help people plan for the future of their cats in case of emergencies.
In order to lower the euthanasia rate of cats in shelters and to prevent the suffering of cats on the streets through humane care, ACR’s website provides the public with lists of clinics that offer low cost spay/neuter programs and low-cost veterinary care throughout the country.
Online resources are offered about feral cats, alternatives to declawing, and cat health,[8] and information on advocating for cats.[9] The organization maintains a list of "Cat Action Teams" who work to help feral cats all over the U.S.[10]
Their website also provides information on how people can avoid surrendering their cats to shelters.[11]
ACR does trap-neuter-return of community cats and spay/neuter of adoptable cats. Since inception, the organization has sterilized over 85,000 cats.
ACR manages multiple cat colonies in Maryland and California. Management involves trapping, sterilizing, and vaccinating new colony arrivals as they are discovered, as well as feeding all of the cats and monitoring their health daily. Any cats in need of medical attention are taken to a veterinarian for care. Young kittens found in colonies are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and cared for in foster homes until they are adopted.
In 2007, the organization helped organize a free spay-neuter clinic for cats and dogs in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.[12]
In 2008, the organization gathered 12,000 signatures prior to the Beijing Winter Olympics and sent the petitions to the International Olympic Committee to encourage them not to host the games in countries that "clean their streets" of stray animals in preparation for the Olympics.
In 2021, ACR gathered nearly 95,000 signatures to urge the Australian government to end government-sanctioned cat culling. ACR sent the petition to the Australian Minister of the Environment, Threatened Species Commissioner, and Ambassador to the U.S.
The organization also operates an African Wildcat Conservation Action Plan in South Africa with the purpose of protecting and preserving the African wildcat (AWC) species through TNR of outdoor domestic cats who live near AWC territories.[13] AWCs are threatened by habitat loss as well as by hybridization with domestic cats. The AWC is the ancestor of the domestic cat and the two species readily interbreed.
The organization's publications have won several awards from the Cat Writers' Association:[14]