This action is ONLY for residents of North Carolina
Although HB 808 unanimously passed the House, it remains in the Senate Rules Committee. Please continue to ask your legislator to support this important bill!
Great news! HB 808 has passed the House! It is now with the Senate Rules and Operations Committee. Please let your Senator know you support this important bill!
Great news! HB808 has been passed by the House Committee on State and Local Government. It is now with the House Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations.
However, the bill was amended. Instead of allowing shelters to do RTF, the bill has been amended to allow shelters to return animals to an animal advocate group instead. It has also been amended to allow counties in the state to establish their own disposition options. While RTF would have been better, these options are still giving animal shelters the flexibility to ensure cats get back to their outdoor homes rather than killed.
The North Carolina House Committee on State & Local Government is considering House Bill 808, which allows shelters to make more lifesaving choices for the cats in their care. The bill amends current state law to create additional disposition, or outcome, options for cats in shelters, including Trap-Neuter-Return(TNR).
Since community cats are not socialized to people and are unadoptable, they are almost always killed in shelters unless there are humane policies in place to protect them. Under HB 808, shelter staff could instead practice Return-To-Field (RTF), a shelter-involved version of TNR, for those cats. Through RTF, community cats are quickly moved out of the shelter to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, eartipped, and returned to their original outdoor homes.
The bill also creates the option to transfer animals to another shelter. If one shelter doesn’t have the space and resources to house and care for an animal, the animal can be moved to a shelter that does.
Ask your Representative to pass HB 808 and protect cats and other animals in shelters.
Please Support House Bill 808
Dear [Decision Maker],
As a resident of North Carolina, I ask that you please support House Bill 808. If enacted into law, the bill would create additional disposition options in animal shelters statewide that will save impounded cats' lives and taxpayer dollars. These new disposition, or live outcome, options are transfer to another shelter and transfer to an animal advocate group. Cats could then be directed to a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) Program, the only humane and effective approach to community cats.Under HB 808, animal shelter staff will have two effective humane options at their fingertips to protect more cats and benefit public health. That is the vital change I want for my state and its animals.
Sincerely,[Your Name] [Your Address] [City, State ZIP][Your Email]
