Stray cats are a problem in Provo.
Utah County has the state’s highest shelter euthanasia rate, and the proposed Best Friends program aimed to reduce those numbers. Provo police have instead suggested making it illegal to feed nuisance stray cats to starve them out.
Stray cats are a problem in Provo.
Every year, police answer hundreds of calls related to these so-called nuisance animals. And since 2020,call counts have only grown, according to data shared by the Provo Police Department.
To help, Best Friends Animal Society, the Utah-based nonprofit that aims to make kill shelters extinct, offered the city a deal: up to $1 million to instate a feral cat trap, neuter and return pilot program, often referred to with the initialism “TNR.”
Provo officials, though, had doubts. And, after nearly a year of trying to resolve the issue and start the program, said Holly Sizemore, the society’s chief mission officer, the group rescinded the offer in late January.
The city of Provo said in a statement that they appreciated Best Friends’ offer and their “patience as we carefully evaluated this issue from multiple perspectives,” but noted that officials have heard from residents on both sides of the issue, as well as experts.
“While we were still in the process of evaluating these factors, Best Friends informed us they were withdrawing their funding offer for the program,” the statement read. “While our findings thus far had indicated a TNR program was not right for Provo, we sincerely appreciate Best Friends’ willingness to collaborate and understand their decision to focus their resources elsewhere.”
Now the feral cat problem in Provo remains, and so does the county’s highest-in-the-state euthanasia rate that advocates, including Gov. Spencer Cox, have aimed to reduce.
It’s unclear how the city plans to address the issue, but police have offered one solution: Make it illegal to feed the cats so, in turn, they may eventually starve, or possibly migrate elsewhere.
The original offer
(Isaac Hale | Special to The Tribune) The sun sets on the campus of Brigham Young University and the surrounding area in Provo as seen from Slate Canyon Park on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022.
A year ago, Best Friends approached Provo with their idea to fund a TNR program for three years.
Best Friends would field all calls to police for stray cats. If eligible — meaning the cat was truly a stray, and not an animal being abused — Best Friends would facilitate trapping the cat, which they’d then spay or neuter, as well as vaccinate and provide it with other minor medical care, before “returning” it, docking its ears so they wouldn’t repeat the process if it’s captured again.
Sizemore said the group was also prepared to provide residents with cat deterrents, like smelly herbs or physical barriers, to keep the animals away, and help train the city’s animal control officers in “conflict mitigation” with callers.
Groups like Best Friends promote TNR as a nonlethal, humane way to deal with feral cats by condensing the breeding population. Less cats able to breed means fewer kittens that would themselves breed, eventually leading to a reduced number of cats, they say.
Numbers from other local municipalities that have partnered with Best Friends seem to show some amount of success.
For instance, in 2011, when Salt Lake County started its program, 4,864 cats were taken in, according to data from Best Friends. In 2018, that number dropped 16% to 4,073 cats.
Where the deal fell apart
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Karen Luna, left, and Tiffinni Pawlak inject a cat at Best Friends Animal Society in Salt Lake City on Aug. 6, 2024.
In November, nine months after Best Friends broached the pilot program, they attended a Provo City Council work session and made their case.
But Provo police weren’t convinced. Captain Brian Wolken presented council members with more information to consider — that other authorities, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Western Governors’ Association, consider feral cats invasive and deadly, responsible for the destruction of bird habitats and the extinction of some species.
In more urban areas, Wolken said, TNR programs could work. “But in areas like ours, they don’t work because these little predators are killing all of our wildlife.”
Even with the program, he said, these cats will still be around doing the nuisance things feral cats do, like taking up residence in garages and sheds and leaving behind messes, or using public playgrounds at litter boxes.
Wolken also questioned the efficacy of the programs generally. While there are studies that show they can be successful at reducing cat populations, there are others that show less success.
“Even People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has published an official stance that TNR programs do not improve the quality of life for feral cats and are not usually a humane option — particularly in environments like ours,“ according to a prepared statement, ”where factors such as weather present significant challenges.”
The city also worried about the cost to taxpayers, once Best Friends’ three-year commitment ended, according to the statement.
The Police Department instead advocated for amending a city ordinance to prohibit feeding feral cats, alongside restrictions on feeding deer, elk, moose and turkeys.
“This is not a cat problem” Wolken said. “This is a people problem.”
But Sizemore is skeptical that changing the ordinance — “basically criminalizing compassion” — will work. She knows of people who have risked their jobs feeding cats on business properties.
“Letting an animal starve,” she said, “is not something that most people can abide.”
She said police resistance to TNR programs isn’t uncommon. It requires a paradigm shift in how they do their jobs. The measure of success, traditionally, is how many cats an officer removes.
“And now we’re saying, actually, the more cats that you take, spay, neuter, vaccinate and return, is better for the community,” Sizemore said, adding that often, officers who initially had concerns come away “surprised and delighted.”
Despite police opposition, the majority of council members at that work session voted in favor of the program. Afterward, some residents spoke in favor and others against the idea at a City Council meeting.
But a deal never materialized. So Best Friends pulled the offer.
As it stands now, “euthanasia will remain the practice for disposing of stray cats trapped by animal control officers,” according to a City Council memo, and residents and supporters of no-kill initiatives will continue to call for change.
If the last three years are a guide, without any sort of intervention, euthanasias are poised to increase.
South Utah Valley Animal Shelter euthanized 103 cats from Provo in 2021, the City Council memo stated. That number climbed to 199 the year after, and 258 the year after that.
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