After working "undercover" since May 2007 to halt the extermination of feral cats living at JFK airport, finally the cat is out of the bag.  Click on the links below for the latest developments and where to send your own Action Alert messages:

Alley Cat Allies
Neighborhood Cats
Barc Animal Shelter
Newsday Editorial: Don't kill cats at Kennedy Airport
Link to Francesca's MySpace page
USA Today Story

Our new President, Ashot Karamian was interviewed (and misquoted) by the NY Times in this expose of the efforts by the NY Port Authority to eradicate the feral colonies at JFK Airport.   Not mentioned in the article is our work at Parking Lot #4 near the Jet Blue terminal to rescue 27 kittens this past summer and to Spay and Neuter the adults at the colony.  When it became clear that the Maintenance department had hired an exterminator to trap the cats, we tried to trap and relocate as many as possible in a race for their lives. We quickly worked to relocate 6 of the adult cats to save their lives. Althought the relocation was successful, the cats' rightful place was to stay at JFK where they were faithfully cared for by the employees who fed them daily near their shelter under the parking structure.

Here is the link to the NY TIMES article and a link to pictures of some of the beautiful feral kittens we rescued, socialized and got adopted with the help of the ASPCA Cares
program.  Our efforts continue actively to rescue and relocate as many cats as possible until TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) is accepted and approved at JFK.

Read the New York Times article.

See pictures of rescued kittens. (Ruby at bottom left on page, is one
of the only 5 surviving adult cats from the Parking lot #4 after the
extermination.)

Here's an entry on the Times Blog from Urban Cat League Treasurer, Mike Phillips
- Posted October 25th, 2007 at 10:44 pm

Simple logic would lead one to realize that birds and rodents don't frequent areas habituated by feral cats. I can testify that cats trapped and killed by JFK Port Authority personnel last summer were nowhere near the runways at JFK and no danger to travellers. Their pristine feeding station attended daily by employees was not attracting birds or rodents. That clever argument by PA spokesman diFulco, that killing the cats is somehow protecting the lives of people flying into JFK is pure invention to disguise senseless
cruelty. To justify the killing of the cats at Parking #4 last summer, they invented another list of equally false reasons. Worse, they sealed off the crawl space under the Parking structure, knowingly separating mother cats from newborn kittens trapped inside. All this
while rescue groups were actively trapping and neutering the cats and trying to rescue the kittens to bring the colony under control. What will they make up at the next target colony location on the vast JFK grounds?

The Wildlife Biologist Laura Francouer who is the "expert" employed at JFK behind this extermination is completely out of date with her approach and understanding of effective animal control. TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return), the method that Francouer refuses to consider, is the most effective and humane method of controlling Feral Cat Populations.
It has been effectively implemented at Riker's Island Prison in NYC and several other places around the country with logistical complexities equal to those at JFK.

IF the JFK personnel wanted to humanely solve the feral cat problem, they would not have rejected the help offered to them from several of the cities expert animal rescue agencies and organizations. They were approached repeatedly since May of this year by our group among others and have declined any and all help from us. They clearly just want the cats gone with no regard to the methods or cruelty imposed.