Please email or call your Senators as soon as possible and urge them to oppose S.B. 1390.  The bill would legalize trap, neuter and return (“TNR”) programs, in which unowned cats are released to the environment.

Release of TNR cats to the wild is illegal as an inhumane abandonment under current Virginia law.  S.B. 1390 would legalize TNR programs without changing the fact that the release is still inhumane.  ASNV opposes TNR programs because they are bad for cats, cause the loss of native wildlife and create human health hazards, all without reducing the number of free-roaming feral cats.

Your calls or emails are particularly important if your Senator is on the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee to which the bill has been referred.  The committee can kill the bill for the session or advance it.  The Northern Virginia members on the committee are:

J. Chapman Petersen, District 34. Senate Phone: (804) 698-7534; District Phone: (703) 349-3361; email: [email protected] 
Mark D. Obenshain, District 26. Senate Phone: (804) 698-7526; District Phone: (540) 437-1451; email: [email protected] 
Richard H. Stuart, District 28. Senate Phone: (804) 698-7528; District Phone: (804) 493-8892; email: [email protected] 
David W. Marsden, District 37. Senate Phone: (804) 698-7537; District Phone: (571) 249-3037; email: [email protected] 
Barbara A. Favola, District 31. Senate Phone: (804) 698-7531; District Phone: (703) 835-4845; email: [email protected] 

The legislature is only meeting for 30 days and bills are moving very quickly.  It is critical to contact them now.  You can identify your representatives here.   

Please use your own words.  A number of suggested talking points are listed below.

• The lives of feral cats are brutal: they are exposed to weather, cars, predators (coyotes, foxes and raccoons), disease and inferior nutrition.
• Up to 75 percent of feral kittens die before they reach six months old, and adult life expectancy is only 2-5 years.
• Outdoor cats kill huge number of birds and other wildlife (small mammals, reptiles and amphibians) that birds rely on for food.
• Cats are a leading cause of declining bird populations, killing an estimated 2.4 billion birds every year in the United States.
• An estimated 70 percent of birds killed by outdoor cats are killed by unowned or feral cats.
• Cats are an invasive, exotic species that does not belong in the wild in Virginia.
• Unowned cats in the environment can spread disease to other animals and to people (rabies, toxoplasmosis, bartonellosis, plague, endo- and ecto-parasites, rickettsial diseases). 
• The CDC considers toxoplasmosis, which is a special risk to pregnant women and their unborn children, to be the leading cause of death from foodborne illness in the United States.
• Centralized feeding of feral cats in TNR colonies leads to cat contact with raccoons, skunks, possums and foxes, increasing the number of times diseases are shared.
• TNR cats are generally vaccinated for rabies only once and do not get regular veterinary care.  Without annual rabies boosters they are unlikely to have lifetime immunity.  S.B. 1390 does nothing to change that rabies risk.
• TNR advocates argue that the programs reduce feral cat populations, but scientific studies dispute that conclusion.
• Park managers in Northern Virginia report that local parks are a favorite “dumping ground” for unwanted cats.  The presence of unowned cat colonies makes that problem worse, because it makes people think that someone will take care of an unwanted animal they dump there.

You can find your senator and delegate by using Who's My Legislator. 

Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee members: 

Chap Petersen (Chair), Emmett Hanger, Frank Ruff, Mark Obenshain, Richard Stuart, David Marsden, William Stanley, Lynwood Lewis, David Suetterlein, Monty Mason, Jennifer McClellan, Barbara Favola, Joseph Morrissey, Todd Pillion, Ghazala Hashmi

For their contact information, click on their last names.

Senate committee member email addresses:

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House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee members: 

Ken Plum (Chair), Robert Bloxom, David Bulova, Joshua Cole, James Edmunds, Todd Gilbert, Wendy Gooditis, Nancy Guy, Dan Helmer, Sally Hudson, Mark Kean, Alfonso Lopez, Daniel Marshall, Charles Poindexter, Margaret Ransone,  Shelly Simonds, Kathy Tran, Roslyn Tyler, Lee Ware, Michael Webert, Rodney WIllett, Tony Wilt. Find their contact information here.

House committee member email addresses:

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At the Legislative Information System (LIS) (https://lis.virginia.gov/) you can track legislation and review committee agendas prior to a meeting. 

The Bill’s Language (draft):

Invasive Plant Species Study

That the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), jointly with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), shall convene a work group to examine the sale of invasive plant species by any entity, including the retail, landscape, greenhouse and nursery industries, and consider measures to reduce and eliminate their use and promote the use of native plants in the commonwealth. The work group shall include representatives of DCR, VDACS, the Department of Forestry, the Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Virginia Native Plant Society, Blue Ridge PRISM, Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, the Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association, the Virginia Agribusiness Council and the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. The work group shall examine measures to reduce, mitigate and/or eliminate the continued sale and use of identified invasive species, as identified in the Virginia Invasive Plant Species List by DCR. This would include, but not be limited to: (i) labeling of invasive plant species at point of sale; (ii) taxing the sale of invasive species and applying revenue to the removal of invasive species and potential restoration of sites for native habitat; (iii) expanding the noxious weed list to include invasive plant species currently being sold by the industry or other parties; (iv) support for education and outreach, including state partnership with nonprofit organizations either fully or partially dedicated to the preservation of Virginia’s natural heritage, on the reduction of the use of invasive plant species and/or promoting the use of non-invasive or native plant species as substitutes and; (v) measures to increase the use of native plants on local and state government owned properties and projects. The work group shall make recommendations on (a) changes to guidance or regulations for agencies having the authority to regulate activities associated with the work group's work, and (b) statutory changes, including but not limited to changes related to the placement of plant species on the Noxious Weed list (§ XXX et seq. of the Code of Virginia). The work group shall report its recommendations to the Director of DCR and the Commissioner of VDACS by December 1, 2021. 

Thank you for your consideration!

-Audubon Society of Northern Virginia