The cat lobby won and the environmental/ecological devastation continues

The Florida Scrub Jay. Image from Wikipedia.

Cats have very strong advocates in south Florida; the native birds, small mammals, and reptiles do not. There was some token, faux-indignation by some environmental groups but that was the extent of it. Eliot Kleinberg reported on the County Commission meeting where they voted to continue the 'Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate and Release' (TNVR) program:

     Any roaming cat collected by Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control that appears to be cared for would be part of “Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate and Return.” Under that program, the cat would be sterilized, micro-chipped, and vaccinated for rabies, and its left ear clipped for identification. Then it would be set free back in its neighborhood.
     Animal Care Director Dianne Sauve has told commissioners the alternative would be for thousands of cats in shelters to be euthanized.
Wildlife groups then said, in a May 29 letter to the County Commissioner, that house cats and feral cats kill 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds in the U.S. each year, as well as 6.9 to 20.7 billion small mammals and more than 400 million reptiles and amphibians. [emphasis added]
     Acknowledging someone has to die in the equation, the groups said, “We should not respond to one tragedy by creating another.”

You can read here how our own Lake Worth Commissioner McVoy has a particular skillset that could have added greatly to this debate.