Contact 907-980-8898 or clearcreekkitties@gmail.com
The conditions under which the cats are kept at the Palmer pound are reprehensible and must be changed. Clear Creek Cat Rescue would like to encourage all people concerned about the welfare and survival of animals to step forward and protest this inhumane housing of the cats. In this brand new pound facility, things can be done differently. It just takes caring, and acting, to bring about change.
The cats at the Palmer pound are warehoused in small barren cages. They are kept in solitary confinement with no opportunity for interaction or socialization with other cats. There is no set period for exercise out of the cage, and no assurance that ANY time out of the cage is ever provided. As all the sides of their cages all enclosed except for the front. They can see nothing but a narrow view through bars. Air circulation is minimal. There is no natural light. The cages are plastic boxes that offer nothing of interest. Cats are forced to live and eat within a foot of their own litter boxes for months at a time. With no exercise, the animals’ muscles begin to atrophy; boredom, lethargy, and stress sets in which results in symptoms of illness and unadoptable behavior. Consequently more animals end up being unadoptable and are euthanized.
The majority of the cages at the Palmer pound are approximately 22” x 28”, by 23” high. These are stacked three boxes high and ten boxes long. This is where most of the cats are kept, sometimes for months. The box contains a litter pan, and food and water dishes. This leaves about a 1’ by 2’ foot space for the cat to live in for months at a time, not enough space for a normal-sized cat to stretch unless he has his feet in his litter box or food dish. According to any reputable research on housing requirements, this tiny cramped space is grossly inadequate as humane long-term housing for cats.
Cat researchers Kessler and Turner suggest that there should be at least 1.7 meters squared (5’ 2” x 5’ 2”) per cat for group-housed cats in shelters.[1] The working party for the review of the European and Other Scientific Purposes (ETS 123), Appendix A, Council of Europe (1986), recommends that one cat can be housed in a cage with a minimum floor area of 1.5 meters squared (approx. 4.5’ x 4.5’), with another 0.75 meters squared (approx. 2’3” x 2’3”) for each additional cat; the cage should be high enough for humans to enter (walk-in).[2] (Please note that the Palmer pound cages are less than a quarter of the recommended area for healthy living conditions).
Cat researcher Gourkow prepared a thesis in 2001[3] where he compared four different housing conditions, or treatments, on the behavior and stress levels of cats in a shelter, and on the outcome for these cats (whether they were adopted, became ill or were euthanized.) The first treatment which most resembles that at the Palmer pound—a small cage containing food and water bowls, a litter tray and a folded towel as bedding where a single cat is housed—was compared to three other treatments of larger cages enriched with articles of interest where multiple cats were kept. The results showed that the cats kept singly in the small barren cages had the highest stress scores, less likelihood of being adopted because their behavior became less appealing to people, and greater likelihood of being euthanized.
At the Palmer pound, cats are never allowed to be put in a place where they can interact or socialize with other cats. Nor is there any kind of schedule to assure than any cat is given any time out of the cage at all. When a volunteer or potential adopter does take the cat out, the only space where it is allowed to be set down is a 5.5’ by 11’ space where only one cat is allowed at a time. This is often for minutes and may only happen once a week or even less for any particular cat. Some cats may never be chosen to be taken out of the cage by volunteers except when they are held and restrained (not put down) for the moments while their cage is cleaned.
These conditions are reprehensible, and quite clearly represent inhumane treatment.
Stress is a major factor in promoting disease. In researcher Kit Sturgess’ study of “Disease and Welfare”, it is concluded that methods of infectious disease control include not only hygiene, but reduction of stressors.
Stress can increase the likelihood of an individual developing clinical signs of infectious disease due to effects on the host immune response. It can also affect the severity and duration of the clinical signs. Short-term stress results in increases in the hormone cortisol that do not have a significant effect on the host immune response, and may even cause some enhancement. Long-term stress, however, tends to reduce resistance to disease by compromising the immune system due to the chronic release of hormones (such as cortisol) and cytokines………. Stress can also be an important factor in the development of non-infectious disease such as idiopathic feline lower urinary tract disease (Cameron et al. 2004), and of behavioral problems such as inappropriate elimination.
Without question, the cramped, barren, solitary and stifling conditions under which these cats are being kept can do nothing but create high levels of stress, and consequently cause the cats to experience greater incidence of illness. The packed housing of so many animals in such a small enclosed space also contributes to the spread of disease organisms. This is evidenced by the increased number of cats that are removed to isolation because of symptoms of illness at the Palmer pound. It also contributes to the number of adoptable cats that are euthanized for “behavior” after being kept in the cramped cages for extended periods of time.
In order to meet humane requirements for the housing of cats, the size of the cat section of the Palmer pound must be increased, enrichment of the environment added, and opportunity for exercise and interaction must be made available. At present, the entire cat area (aside from the clinical isolation area) is 5.5 feet wide by 20 feet long. Fifty or more cats are housed here at times. More than thirty is the norm. In contrast, the dog area is many, many times that size, consisting of multiple rooms, with the dogs being given access to the outside for exercise as well.
It is obvious that the small cage-lined “cat room” at the Palmer pound cannot humanely accommodate the number of cats that the pound takes in. Therefore, additional space must be added for the housing of cats.
As other shelters around the state and country succeed in housing multiple cats together in larger enclosures, this seems a rational approach to providing humane housing for, and treatment of, the cats at the Palmer pound. It would allow for more room for exercise, and opportunity for interaction and socialization. The Homer pound has fewer cats than the Palmer pound and yet contains more space for them than the Palmer pound. The cats are kept in two discrete rooms in groups that socialize with each other. Disease is no more, and generally a great deal less, of a problem than that experienced at Palmer. There are other examples, such as the Humane Society’s cat shelter in Anchorage where the cats are free to roam about at will with no cages. And even some private rescue groups house thirty cats or more in a limited space without resorting to the warehousing method of the Palmer pound.
This more open housing method has proven to be an eminently workable and more humane way of housing multiple cats than the old clinical warehouse method. It is commonly used all over the country and the world by shelters and rescue groups to accommodate the humane treatment of multiple cats. Rates of disease are no higher, and in most cases are far less, than those encountered in the more stress-promoting, solitary cage-confinement method.
Clear Creek Cat Rescue would like to help bring about changes at the Palmer pound that would make life bearable for the cats during that time that they are kept there. We would encourage all persons who care about animals to join us in that effort.
Please contact the Mat-Su Borough assembly, the administration of animal control, and the members of the animal control advisory board and let them know that you want change. Also please contact CCCR and let us know that you are with us so that we can present a united and effective front in the battle to reform the pound.
Below are the members of the pound’s advisory board. Please contact them today.
John Wood–jmkwood@mtaonline.net 495-0700
Mary Crowley–mtk1961@yahoo.com 232-3998
Paula English–engken@mtaonline.net 495-8506
Teresa Morache–tmorache@gci.net 631-0752
Sabrieta Holland–alaskacowdoc@hotmail.com 232-7477
[1] Kessler, M. R. and Turner, D. C. (1999b) Effects of density and cage size on stress in domestic cats (Filis silvestris catus) housed in animal shelters and boarding catteries, Animal Welfare 8, 259-267
[2] “The Welfare of Cats”, edited by Irene Rochlitz, Springer, 2007, pg. 180.
[3] Gourkow, N. (2001) Factors affecting the welfare and adoption rate of cats in an animal shelter. M.Se. thesis. University of British Columbia.
