It's a troubling time right now due to coronavirus, but here's a great way for you to help animals while you're at home.
N.J. State Senator Troy Singleton has introduced S920, a bill to ban the declawing of cats and other animals in New Jersey. With your help, this bill could become law!
Cutting off the last bone of each toe, of all 10 fingers of the front paws of a cat, is known as declawing.
It is usually done to prevent cats from scratching people and furniture, but it's nothing like a nail trim. It is painful surgery -- amputation.
This makes walking painful and difficult and leaves many cats with chronic pain.
Without claws to defend themselves, they may resort to biting.
Providing them with scratching posts is a much kinder solution -- and it lets cats be cats!
Declawing is considered cruel in many countries. But in the U.S., so far it is only illegal in several cities and the state of New York, so passing this New Jersey bill would be a great step forward.
Some people worry that banning declawing would cause many more cats to be given up to shelters, but shelter statistics haven't shown this.
Senator Singleton's bill will be voted on soon by the N.J. Senate Budget and Appropriations committee.
Please email committee members and tell them to vote YES on S920.
(Please send a separate email to each senator -- the email may get blocked if you try to email the whole group at once.)
Please do as many as you can, and let them know if you're a N.J. resident!
You can either use the email addresses below or fill out the contact forms here.
Feel free to copy/paste or edit:
Sample subject line: Please vote YES on S920: ban the declawing of cats in N.J.!
Sample message:
Dear Senator [last name],
Please vote YES on S920, the bill to ban the declawing of cats, when it comes before the Senate Budget and Appropriations committee and in any future votes.
Declawing involves cutting off the last bone of each toe, of all 10 fingers of the front paws of a cat.
Declawing is cruel and must be stopped. Thank you for being kind to animals.
Email addresses of the N.J. legislators:
SenSarlo@njleg.org
SenCunningham@njleg.org
SenAddiego@njleg.org
SenCruzPerez@njleg.org
SenDiegnan@njleg.org (thank him for co-sponsoring the bill)
SenGreenstein@njleg.org
SenOScanlon@njleg.org
SenOroho@njleg.org
SenRuiz@njleg.org
SenTesta@njleg.org
SenThompson@njleg.org
SenSingleton@njleg.org (thank him for introducing the bill)
Simple measures like providing scratching posts can help cats live harmoniously indoors with humans -- no declawing needed.
A more complex problem is the huge worldwide population of stray cats who live miserable, brief lives.
Female cats can give birth to a litter of hungry, sickly kittens up to 3 times a year.
That's why 600 Million Dogs is working to develop a long-lasting, permanent solution -- the Spay and Neuter Cookie – first for dogs, then for cats.
To learn more, see below. Thank you!
Wishing you well,
Maria P
Volunteer
600 Million Dogs
At 600 Million Dogs we’re working to develop permanent, safe, inexpensive birth-control food that only needs a one-time administration.
A food that could be given just once and it will prevent reproduction for the rest of an animal’s life!
The millions of homeless dogs and cats killed on the streets and in shelters each year need this.
The problem is, permanent birth-control food is still in the R&D stage, and big drug companies are not working on it.
We’re determined to blaze a path forward by developing this product, even though we’re a small, grassroots nonprofit organization.
We're working on a permanent solution. We've made progress but we need full-time scientists to finish the job, and we need your help!
If you would like to support the work of 600 Million Dogs and the development of a permanent birth-control food, please make a tax-deductible gift of any amount.
It will make a tangible impact ... and the animals will be forever grateful.