Foster City is well known as an exemplary city and a leader in planning, financial management and public service. This reputation is founded on concept of a planned community and reinforced by the residents who have elected and supported responsible City Councils.
But there is more than that in making a great city. A great city is one that has a true sense of social responsibility. Such a city is able to resolve differences of opinion and reach acceptable consensus – not just compromise.
Foster City recently reached a consensus between two groups of residents over the issue of feral cats. You may have seen the very complimentary Editorial in the February 8, 2005 edition of the San Mateo County Times entitled “They take the ouch out of meow”, or the front page article entitled “Feral cat population dwindling” written by Dana Yates in the February 2nd edition of The Daily Journal.
Both of these report the success of a joint effort of two distinctly different organizations with very different “clientele” to solve a mutual problem – that of feral cats.
The Homeless Cat Network is a group of volunteers mobilized to reduce the feral cat population along the Foster City levee through a program of trap, neuter, and release or adoption of these neutered cats.
The Sequoia Audubon Society focuses on the protection of ground nesting birds along the levee. The City of Foster City is the facilitator in bringing these two groups to consensus over how best to support the “clientele” of each group. Foster City’s “clientele” are the people who use the levee for recreation.
The Homeless Cat Network works to keep these cats, most of whom appear to be pets abandoned by their owners and dumped into the levee area, as healthy and well fed as possible while humanely reducing the growth of the feral cat colony. To do this, the Homeless Cat Network has established feeding stations that are out of sight and away from bird feeding and nesting areas.
The Sequoia Audubon Society supports this effort to keep the feral cats well fed so that they do not hunt and destroy the bird population. Foster City works to keep the Bay Trail free from the mess and debris by placing signs along the levee that request people not put open containers of food along the levee.
Many areas of the country have feral cat colonies that are out of control, primarily due to irresponsible pet owners who dump their cats for one reason of another. The alliance of the Homeless Cat Network, the Sequoia Audubon Society and the City of Foster City provides a model solution to this problem. I believe this is another example of your city’s ability to resolve potentially contentious issues in a socially responsible way.
The San Mateo Times Editorial said it best: “We applaud the Homeless Cat Network, as well as Foster City officials and the Sequoia Audubon Society, for having the vision to take a humane, nonlethal approach to controlling the cat population. Thanks especially to the volunteers whose hard work keeps the program working and the cats and humans happy. We think they’re the cat’s pajamas.”
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