A+, Linda!

Regarding Linda Matarazzo Cherkassky’s letter in last week’s issue regarding feral cats and TNR, everyone has a right to their opinion, but please, Linda, do not say my managed feral cats are all doomed to an inhumane outcome! My local altered ferals are content and happy. I see them rubbing heads greeting one another, and they are healthy and fed. One I feed is already 11 years old! Sure, there are risks outside, but a feral cat would rather take his chances with the elements than being trapped in a shelter cage only to be injected fatally. Plus, shelter policy is to kill all feral cats, because no one wants to adopt a wild animal.
Yes, feral cats are wild animals. They’re not native but are highly adaptable. Asking me to tame an adult feral cat that had no human contact whatsoever is like requesting me to have a bobcat, raccoon or opossum socialized. It’s just time wasted. I would rather spay and neuter and release several cats than concentrate on one that would never be truly happy living inside in the first place.
More and more rescues and shelters including Philadelphia’s Animal Care & Control are for TNR. Trap and Remove allows new unfixed cats to take the place of ones removed. Even if TNR cannot neuter every single cat, it does prevent a lot more litters from being added to the population.
I may not be able to stop the problem but I can improve the situation. My heart is not just for feral cats but all animals. I saved and rehabilitated orphaned baby birds, a pigeon shot by a BB, even a nerve-damaged squirrel that fell from a tree. This is why I perform TNR — less cats means happier cats, relaxed neighbors and less predation on wildlife.
Ms. Cherkassky, please do not say I don’t do my homework. I only do the assignments given to me, and through my own experiences through the years I know that TNR works. Period. Nothing you can say or throw at me will deter me from my work.
E-mail Info@phillycats.org to help the Rush State Park cats.
Gina DeNofa
Normandy



Some advice for pet

owners in mourning

I read Mr. Iaconelli’s letter (Loss of a pet extremely painful for owners) in your Feb. 22 edition and hope my response will help him and many other pet lovers in Northeast Philly.
Yes Richard, there is a pet grief group close to the Northeast. In response to Mr. Iaconelli’s letter expressing his grief for his beloved pets and his desire for a pet grief group, I would like to advise him about the Center for Animal Referral (CARES). CARES provides emergency and critical care for your pet 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
CARES offers a supportive counseling service free of charge if your pet is/was a patient at CARES.
I recently had to euthanize my companion of 13 years. The doctor and entire staff were unbelievably kind and compassionate. I couldn’t handle the grief and was offered group or private counseling. I elected private counseling and received three free sessions.
I applaud this incredible facility. My local vet had referred me to them. They are located adjacent to the Oxford Valley Mall at 2010 Cabot Blvd in Langhorne (215- 750-2774; www.vetcares.com). I hope this information is helpful.
Linda Hayes
Mayfair

• • •

Please let Richard Iaconelli know there is a grief counselor for pet owners at Abington Hospital, someone from the Women’s Humane Society of Bensalem told me. I had two kitty kats — Elvis and Priscilla — and last year when I had to put Priscilla to sleep (she had cancer) they gave me a sympathy card with a poem, The Rainbow Bridge, in it.
Contact the Humane Society at 215-750-3100 for a copy of the poem.
Elaine Craig
Morrell Park



She’s just wild about

Holy Redeemer

Regarding the current issue of Jeanes Hospital closing its maternity ward, I can’t say that I’m upset about this.
I delivered my first child at Jeanes just over eight years ago, and was less than satisfied. Among other reasons, they wouldn’t honor what their own childbirth class had told us about new fathers being able to stay, and they kicked my husband out a mere four hours after his first daughter was born, saying it was time for him to leave even though we were the only family in the room.
Then, I ended up in their ER two years later hemorrhaging with a high-risk pregnancy, and had a very bad experience, and shortly thereafter I switched all my doctors and maternity care over to Holy Redeemer Hospital. I did suffer one more miscarriage after my first mid-term loss (the first one had landed me in Jeanes’ ER while hemorrhaging because the ambulance wouldn’t take me to Holy Redeemer, by law it had to be the closest hospital).
Holy Redeemer’s maternity ward took wonderful care of me when I had to be induced to deliver my stillborn son, and I’ve never forgotten their compassion and understanding during one of the worst times of my life. They also have an excellent and well-known fertility doctor who treated the cause of my miscarriages, and he took great care of me. My fourth pregnancy was cared for by Holy Redeemer’s OB/GYNs, fertility doctor and neonatal unit.
It was considered "high risk" due to my miscarriage history, and I delivered a healthy baby girl who was nearly 9 pounds but was at risk for premature labor — under Holy Redeemer’s care, I carried her to 39 weeks.
After my experience with Jeanes with my first child, and then in the ER, I swore I would never go to Jeanes again for any services. I had talked to several mothers and also my children’s pediatrician is at Holy Redeemer, and they all raved about the quality and personal caring of Holy Redeemer’s health system. With the exception of one nurse there, my experiences with Holy Redeemer over the last eight years have been wonderful, and I recommend my doctors and Holy Redeemer’s services to everyone.
So, I am not shedding any tears over the closing of Jeanes’ obstetrics. Holy Redeemer is only 20 minutes away, they have a pediatric ward and ER, and they have always treated us well.
Kim Wilson
Rhawnhurst



Fox Chase is looking

like a ghetto

Regarding a fire in the abandoned building on the 7900 block of Oxford Ave. on Feb. 24, it should be a wake-up call to the parents in Fox Chase who have no idea what their kids are doing. Luckily no one was hurt.
On that day, a Saturday, at approximately 9:25 p.m. I witnessed six individuals go to that building. Five minutes later I saw three more people head for the side of the building. Do the parents of Fox Chase not care what their children are doing?
Fox Chase is starting to look like a ghetto. Do the parents not notice the graffiti sprouting up all around the neighborhood? I take the train to work every day and there is so much graffiti between the Fox Chase and Ryers stations, it looks like a ghetto. People try to improve their property only to have new fences and garages defaced.
Every Saturday and Sunday I have to clean up the area in front of my house from the trash your little darlings discard, including those cute little glassine envelopes (yes I have witnessed the trash being thrown by the kids who live on the block and not a passing car).
There are a number of parents in Fox Chase who need to grow a backbone. Don’t be afraid of your children. Walk around the neighborhood in the evenings, including a little stroll along the tracks. Compare the drawings on your kids’ notebooks to the trash that’s spray-painted in our neighborhood.
Your kids aren’t afraid of trespassing. Don’t let it bother you.
Patricia Tillis
Fox Chase



Philly can be a model

for the no-kill movement

Guest Opinion
By Councilman Jack Kelly

I think most of you reading this will be surprised to know that here in the city of Philadelphia nearly 40,000 companion animals, cats and dogs are killed at our city pound, the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Agency. Why are we allowing so many animals to be needlessly killed? The answer is quite simple — lack of funding and public awareness.
Philadelphia spends $1.77 per capita on animal control. Nationally recommended standards are $4 to $7 per capita to fund a proper animal control agency. Philadelphia is spending less than half of what it should. Last year I successfully lobbied our mayor to increase PACCA’s funding level, and while this was a small step in the right direction we are still far away from where funding levels should be.
In 2004, I called forth hearings in City Council to investigate a series of articles in the Philadelphia Daily News which depicted PACCA as a "house of horrors." At the time, nine out of 10 animals who entered the shelter were killed, making Philadelphia one of the most inhumane cities in the nation, with one of the highest kill rates.
Now that our "dirty little secret" was uncovered I have been leading the charge to put Philadelphia back on the right track, and am looking to the future for Philadelphia to become a No Kill community.
In 2005, the city of Philadelphia changed course. A new chief executive was hired to overhaul the agency. Tara Derby was chosen to take on this daunting task and has worked tirelessly, along with a newly dedicated staff and new board of directors. Together they have made tremendous lifesaving gains. In December we reached a tremendous milestone of saving more than 60 percent of the entire number of animals that entered PACCA. In all of its history, PACCA has never achieved that level of lifesaving.
Hard work alone won’t sustain this progress indefinitely. We need people to adopt, need people to spay/neuter their animals, but most importantly we must have proper funding and easily accessible adoption centers.
Today, most Americans hold the humane treatment of animals as a personal value, which is reflected in our laws, cultural practices, the proliferation of organizations founded for animal protection, increased per-capita spending on animal care, and great advancements in veterinary medicine. For pet owners, our animals are our family.
People of all ages, but particularly the elderly and the young, enjoy the companionship of animals. For single people, pets offer a welcome relief from loneliness. For children, an animal in the home contributes warmth and unconditional love, and teaches responsibility and consideration for the needs of another creature. Those who suffer from disease or injury experience a therapeutic, even spiritual, benefit from their presence.
In the 19th century, dog catchers and poundmasters throughout the United States used to kill all unclaimed stray dogs en masse — by shooting, drowning, poisoning, and by clubbing them to death. Our city changed all that.
In 1872, the city of Philadelphia was the first community in the nation to set up a humane-education program promoting lifetime commitments and the importance of keeping pets in the home. It was the first to offer homeless animals for adoption. And it was the first to introduce more "humane euthanasia" through the use of a gas chamber to replace old, slow and more painful practices of killing stray animals.
I have no doubt that the founders were hopeful that the time would come when these avenues would one day end the practice of population control killing. Somewhere along the line, we lost our way.
Today, No Kill is a humane, sustainable, model that works. If all parties are reasonable in their respective positions and accommodating where necessary, we can address and achieve our goals in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation.
Philadelphia can be a beacon of hope not only for the animals of Philadelphia and the people who love them, but for all animals. A national model.
It would be of great historical significance for Philadelphians to embrace the opportunity which we have set about creating, and to fulfill the mission begun some 130 years ago by working together to end the killing of adoptable pets.
All eyes are on Philadelphia once again. Animal shelters from all across the nation are looking to see if it is possible. It is up to us to show them the way.
I am confident that with proper funding coupled with community collaboration and the hard work of the dedicated staff at PACCA Philadelphia will lead the nation in becoming the first No Kill community, a city where every adoptable cat and dog will have a home.
Mahatma Ghandi said, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
The clock is ticking…nearly 25,000 animals will be needlessly euthanized this year. If Philadelphia is truly the next great American city, we must be committed to protect both our two and four-legged citizenry. ••
Mr. Kelly, a Republican from Somerton, is a Philadelphia city councilman at-large.

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