NYC Feral Cat Council - National Feral Cat Summit Coming to San Francisco - by Valerie Sicignano, Program Coordinator, NYC Feral Cat Initiative - September 2006 - Out of the Cage!, the E-Newsletter of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals

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NYC Feral Cat Council

National Feral Cat Summit Coming to San Francisco

by Valerie Sicignano, NYC Feral Cat Initiative

Trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs are humanely reducing NYC's feral cat population. (Photo by Meredith Weiss)

Trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs are humanely reducing NYC's feral cat population.

(Photo by Meredith Weiss)

New York's feral cats will get strong recognition at this year's National Feral Cat Summit!

The Third Annual National Feral Cat Summit is set to take place on Saturday, September 9, in San Francisco. Michael Mountain, Co-Founder and President of Best Friends Animal Society in Utah will present the keynote address. Meredith Weiss, Director of Community and Education Outreach for the NYC Feral Cat Initiative, will present an update on the NYC Feral Cat Initiative program and the NYC Feral Cat Database.

The NYC Feral Cat Initiative is a program of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals and is administered by Neighborhood Cats. Neighborhood Cats produces the National Feral Cat Summit as a vehicle to take the successful components of the New York City TNR programs and teach them to other communities so that they can implement them properly in their areas.

The Summit will feature a film and workshop on How to Perform a Mass Trapping, a technique pioneered by Neighborhood Cats and taught twice a month in New York City at the ASPCA headquarters by NYC Feral Cat Initiative TNR Instructors Emma Cobb, Phil Roseman, and Meredith Weiss. Other workshops include Advanced Feral Cat Colony Care, Funding TNR, Tips for Handling Feral Cats: A Workshop for Veterinarians and Vet Techs, and Feral Cats, TNR & the Law.

Speakers at the Summit will include Paul Jolly (PETCO Foundation), Esther Mechler (SPAY/USA), Bryan Kortis (Neighborhood Cats), Sandra Monterose and Debora Bresch, (ASPCA), Nancy Peterson (The Humane Society of the United States), Dr. Gay Senk, DVM (Long Island Cat Project), Dr. Elliot Katz (In Defense of Animals), and Valerie Sicignano (NYC Feral Cat Initiative, In Defense of Animals, and Neighborhood Cats).

Tickets are $50. Admission includes a hot vegan lunch. Click here to view the complete event program and order tickets.

Valerie Sicignano oversees the NYC Feral Cat Initiative, a program of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals that is administered by Neighborhood Cats. She is also the Director of Companion Animal Outreach for In Defense of Animals. Valerie is the first recipient of the Manhattan Pet Gazette's "Animal Guardian" Award.