It's score one for the bird people in a long-standing fight with the cat lovers, as a Superior Court judge has sided with the Audubon Society and other bird and wildlife groups who took the city to court over its support of a trap-neuter-release program, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The groups argued the program violates state environment laws and isn't effective at reducing the number of feral cats, which feed on many bird species.
"The latest estimates are that there are about 160 million feral cats [nationwide]," said Steve Holmer said to the Times. The senior policy advisor of the American Bird Conservancy, one of the groups that sued the city of Los Angeles continued, "It's conservatively estimated that they kill about 500 million birds a year."
The judge agreed, and issued an injunction barring the city from subsidizing or promoting the program.
Cat advocates are furious at the ruling and say more homeless cats will end up getting euthanized because of it.
"There will be diminished public awareness of the homeless cat situation and the trap-neuter-release solution," said Mark Dodge, founder of the nonprofit FixNation, to the Times. "More homeless cats get abandoned, get ignored. It will probably mean more euthanasias of cats in shelters."
There are thought to be at least 1 million feral cats in Los Angeles.
