Talk:Alley Cat Rescue

Updates
I'm making some revisions to the page. I notice that it was originally Louise Holton's biographical page. That explains a great deal of content that doesn't really belong in a discussion of the organization itself. I'm going to edit out that material, and perhaps one day it can be put into a new Louise Holton page again. But for now it can stay here.

The current "Awards" section lists some awards held by Holton; I'll edit those out:


 * "Both Holton and the organization have won multiple awards:


 * Holton was presented with the Animal Kingdom Kindred Spirit Award and Animal Champion Pin from the Doris Day Animal League.
 * In 1998, Holton was awarded the National Humane Achievement Award by the Humane Coalition of Massachusetts.
 * Holton has received numerous awards from the Cat Writers Association, including a Muse Medallion for her series of articles on feral cats published by The Animals' Voice magazine. She was also the recipient of the Cat Writers' Association President's Award in 2004 for her article, Veterinary Care: Guidelines for Veterinarians Treating Feral Cats. Holton and her organization have received many certificates of excellence from CWA. "

Other Biographical info given in the article, to be taken out from the organization article & saved for a future bio article:
 * "Louise Holton, a South African, worked in Africa on conservation issues in the 1970s, concentrating on endangered species such as the cheetah. She also worked with the Johannesburg Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on cat overpopulation including pioneering work on nonlethal control of homeless and stray cats through the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program. The feral or stray cats are trapped, taken to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies and other diseases, ear-tipped, and then returned to their home territory where human caretakers feed and care for them in colonies. Kittens and any cats deemed socialized, thus able to be adopted, are not returned to the colony but are offered for adoption by animal rescue groups. The TNR model for reducing feral cat populations is endorsed by the National Animal Control Association and the Humane Society of the United States. Many animal shelters and rescue groups, large and small, in the United States provide some type of Trap-Neuter-Return Program. The movement to control the population of feral cats with this method began in Europe.  When news of it reached South Africa in the 1970s, Louise Holton was already actively feeding colonies of cats in Johannesburg. "As soon as they started talking about TNR it just made sense to me.", she said. Holton trapped her colonies with the Johannesburg SCPA providing the spay and neuters.


 * "She moved to the U.S. in 1986 to work in animal protection for Animals' Agenda in Connecticut. Along with Becky Robinson, she co-founded Alley Cat Allies in 1990, bringing to the U.S. her experience in working with homeless cats in South Africa and also involving her many British counterparts, biologists and veterinarians, who pioneered this work in Britain and in other parts of the world. Both women entered the world of stray and feral cats in the United States after Robinson spotted a large group of homeless cats searching for food in an upscale Washington, D.C. neighborhood. As the two women began what would become the first feral cat clearinghouse in the United States, things did not always run smoothly.  When they began trapping the strays, some local animal shelters asked them why they were spending time and money on "pests". By 1991, however, they were warmly received when they conducted their first feral cat workshop in New Jersey.  Holton left Alley Cat Allies in 2001, going on to found Alley Cat Rescue. "

I'm having trouble reconciling ACR's founding date of 1997 on their website with the interesting article archived on an ACA newsletter "Farewell to a Founder", which says she left in 2001 to start ACR. I'm going to link the discrepancy in a footnote but use the 2001 date that's written in the original version of this (above).

Canadianknowledgelover (talk) 19:56, 19 August 2014 (UTC)