TNR in Lithuania SNUO International
Pifas LogoBefore and after two workshops by the “The Kismet account”

First Conference in Kaunas (April 2008)

A conference brought together 30 participants from various backgrounds: local food and veterinary service authorities, local government and health organization representatives, veterinary medicine students and practitioners, as well as animal welfare advocates, including “Pifas” volunteers. The conference was organized in collaboration with Lithuanian veterinary academy.
  The main reasons for organizing such an event were the following:
  • While operating on minimal income, we are reluctant to use the funds we get from private sponsors on renting shelter space for stray animals and believe that a better way to fight the stray cat overpopulation is through the TNR program that would help permanently reduce it.
  • So far, no stray animal population control measures have been implemented in Lithuania apart from capturing and destroying. In addition to this, numerous local authorities have considered or adopted, an order prohibiting the feeding of stray animals.
  • In Kaunas, there were no veterinary doctors that could help with early age neutering of cats or perform a flank incision during operations. The students of the Veterinary Academy in Kaunas did not have any practical experience in modern neutering methods and relied on obsolete 5 centimeter-deep middle incision.
  Achievements after the First Conference
  After learning about the “Trap-Neuter-Release” program from Ian and Jenny and being able to refer to real numbers of neutering feral cats as well as the program’s successes in other countries, some of which were very similar to Lithuania, the Kaunas authority and government representatives have become increasingly more collaborative. A month after the conference took place we were granted a formal permission to implement TNR in Kaunas.

One of “Pifas” volunteers became a coordinator for the local TNR program, gradually attracting other team members. So far, a total of 410 feral cats have been neutered under the program.

After initial program results were obtained and publicized in the media, we have achieved an important victory in our battle against the order prohibiting the feeding of stray animals. In Kaunas, the proposal for such an order was rejected by the municipal Council that saw it as an obstacle to the implementation of the TNR program.

Upon having received information on a colony of 20 stray cats located near the Central City Hospital, the implementation of TNR was suggested by the local government authorities themselves, instead of resorting to the customary practice of capturing and destroying of animals.

Two students of veterinary medicine, who participated in the conference, are currently continuing working with “Pifas” in our partner clinics and perform neutering as part of the TNR program.
  Why did we need another workshop In Vilnius?
  Following successful TNR implementation in Kaunas, “Pifas” began its application in Vilnius where the municipal order against feeding stray animals in public spaces had already been in effect. In December 2008 CEO “Pifas” B.Kymantaite organized a meeting with the municipal Council and asked to abolish the order as it prevented implementation of the TNR efforts. Ultimately, we have reached an agreement for some changes in the current orders and attended three subsequent meetings with government representatives and other stakeholders. As a result, “Pifas” had formally submitted a request for amendment of the orders that would allow for the animal welfare organizations to initiate animal population reduction and control measures.

Unfortunately, the municipal Council remained reluctant in changing the animal feeding order even after having received our request for the TNR implementation. Even though the Council included the provision on TNR into the proposal for amendments, the limited knowledge it possessed on the TNR resulted in the creation of a multitude of bureaucratic obstacles such as a requirement to obtain permission from the municipality for each feeding location and submitting the necessary documentation on planned feeding operations and the person(s) involved in them. Furthermore, the rules prohibited any unauthorized person(s) to engage in feeding activities in the specified location.

The ear tipping made on neutered cats posed yet another problem as, in reference to the European Union Convention, they had been erroneously classified by some of the Lithuanian State Food and Veterinary Service authorities as mutilations.

Upon hearing about our efforts in Kaunas, the representatives of another, Vilnius-based, animal welfare organization “Lese“ have started their own TNR initiative without the approval of the municipal authorities and guided solely by the limited information on the program, retrieved from online sources.

Due to the lack of relevant experience, the “Lese” volunteers did not always implement TNR appropriately. Often, sick feral cats were being kept in cages for a very long time and their ears were damaged when tipped. Similarly, the veterinary doctors working with “Pifas” and “Lese” in Vilnius did not possess the required experience on working with feral cats, early neutering or the ear tipping, which resulted them refusing to perform these procedures or performing them, inappropriately.

Finally, the groups of “Pifas” volunteers in several regions of Lithuania have grown interested in performing TNR locally, thus requiring training of two TNR coordinators for several regions with the necessary knowledge and skills in order to be able to do it, independently.
  Our Aim for the workshop in Vilnius was:
 
  • Achieve complete abolition of municipal anti-feeding law in Vilnius.
  • Achieve a formal recognition and widespread understanding that TNR-related ear tipping does not contradict the European Union Convention.
  • Expand the implementation of the TNR program in Vilnius and two other Lithuanian regions.
  • Have veterinary doctors collaborating with us, and other animal welfare organizations perform early and more modern neutering operations on feral cats.
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  Achievements in second Conference and a week after
  Firstly, a few days before the start of the conference we distributed an advertisement to the media outlets on the commencement of the TNR program in Vilnius. Most importantly, the article on TNR was published by the most popular Lithuania online news site, which resulted in TNR receiving substantial amount of attention from the public. Ever since the advertisements appeared, the residents have been calling us and expressing their interest in the program, as well as asking for us to come out and implement TNR in their neighborhoods.

The workshop was held at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, at Vilnius’ College of Higher Education. We invited numerous government officials, veterinary doctors, and students to attend the venue and achieved a substantial turnout. Our original expectations of delegates interested, was in the region of 50. However, this number was far exceeded by in excess of 105 people.

Among government official institutions, there were the following representatives: officials from Vilnius City municipality Public Safety Department; Council Member from Vilnius City municipality; officer from the Vilnius Food and Veterinary Service; officer from the Lithuanian State Food and Veterinary Service; CEO from Vilnius and Klaipeda city Animal control services.

A further delegate who attended the workshop and performed in the neutering procedures was: 20 veterinarians from 4 cities, of which 12 are already cooperating with “Pifas”; 3 vets who is known partners of the organization “Lese”; 55 vet students; representative of Vilnius animal welfare charity “Lese”; representatives from Lithuanian Society for protection of animals; representative of Klaipeda animal welfare charity “5 paws”. Upon completion of the workshop, we scheduled additional meetings with officials from government to discuss TNR in more detail.

According to the existed Vilnius city regulations, feeding of stray animals in public spaces was prohibited, which meant that there wasn`t no possibility to feed stray cats. However, as new regulations were prepared, unofficial exceptions were agreed between workshop delegates from official institutions and “Pifas” to start TNR in Vilnius before official regulations are confirmed.

The CEO of “Pifas”, B. Kymantaite met with officials from Vilnius City municipality Public Safety Department and Council Member from Vilnius City municipality after the workshop, to discuss new regulations. As a result of the workshop, we did experience significant positive change in the attitudes towards the TNR as the officials tend to agree to the implementation of TNR, recognizing its importance. While they were initially opposed both to ear tipping and feeding of the cats, they agreed that the cats should be marked appropriately and that they should be fed, observed, and taken care of.

However two officials from the government require additional information regarding the positive aspect of ear tipping. Further evidence will be forwarded in the near future, hopefully convincing them of the benefits.

On September 26th, Ms. Kymantaite was invited to the official Food and Veterinary Service meeting in Vilnius, to further coordinate TNR implementation with the authorities. The only issue that remained unresolved at that time was the administration of rabies vaccine to the TNR cats immediately after the neutering operation is performed. The officials from the Service promised to furnish their recommendations regarding this matter by October 6th, 2009. The Food and Veterinary Service is also interested in receiving data on the neighborhoods where TNR has been already implemented; thus it had been agreed that they would be provided with this information on a monthly basis.

All the veterinarians who performed in the neutering procedures on 19-20 of September had a chance to learn from experienced veterinary specialist Jenny Stavisky from UK and perform the operations under her close supervision. Immediately after the workshop we agreed that, from now on, early neutering procedures would be performed at one of the clinics in Vilnius. Even though most of the Lithuanian veterinary doctors used to be convinced that neutering operations should not be performed on animals younger than 6 months of age, many of them have changed their opinions drastically after the workshop. After the workshop, we received a proposal to cooperate with yet another clinic in Vilnius that is interested in the TNR program. Four clinics in Vilnius, four in Kaunas, and one in Klaipeda have agreed to neuter five TNR cats each, free of charge until 2nd of November.

The largest group among the workshop attendees consisted of the students of veterinary medicine, interested in learning about TNR and observing the actual animal operations. Several students approached us about implementing TNR in their neighborhoods and offered to help us with transportation.

Our volunteers gathered to attend the venue from different parts of Lithuania, many of them being interested in implementing TNR in their cities. They had an opportunity to learn how to capture stray cats from the volunteers who have been taught the technique last year. Future designated TNR coordinators in Klaipeda, Vilnius and Jonava who attended the workshop as part of the training, have now been nominated. All of these volunteers were provided with necessary equipment (such as special cages for capturing and transporting animals) to aid those in their future work, while six of our volunteers in Vilnius have already started their TNR efforts.

During our latest meeting with volunteers we also discussed the future of the TNR, including the need to concentrate our efforts on one neighborhood at a time, striving to completely eliminate the numbers of non-neutered cats there before moving to a different one. We also plan to implement various fundraising efforts specifically for the TNR program.
  Achievements after 3 weeks
  6th of October - it was“a big day” for hard-working volunteers of “Pifas” and the first official step towards cats’ welfare in Lithuania. On that day Council Members of Vilnius City municipality officially agreed to put our request into regulations for the TNR implementation. We also came to an agreement that Animal Care and Control Service that captures, quarantines, and euthanizes homeless and lost animals in Vilnius wouldn’t capture TNR-marked cats or would immediately release them back into their living environment if they were captured by mistake. On the 8th of October officials from Vilnius Food and Veterinary service informed us about agreement of administrating rabies shot to TNR cats. According to that agreement the Service promised to supply us with a 50 doses of vaccine free-of-charge.

It took us 2.5 hard working years to prove, that the things, which were called utopia by some people, can become reality, only if you have enthusiasm and honestly want to make a difference. To celebrate that and receive three times bigger donations this year, we bought our first car for the charity hoping that this would help us to implement TNR more useful.

So far, after 3 weeks from the conference, a total of 46 cats have been already neutered in Vilnius and a total number of 410 TNR cats in Lithuania are exceeding in a 2 years’ time. “Pifas” representatives continue working closely with feeders, educating them and explaining the principles of the TNR. Our resources and equipment currently allow us to work with a small number of cats at the time; however, we do plan to increase this capacity in the nearest future.

Among the key indicators of our workshops success and one of the major achievements is greater level of cooperation with government authorities and other important stakeholders from the veterinary profession as well as general public. Even though hardly quantifiable, this aspect of success will be crucial in our future efforts to expand the TNR program, in overcoming bureaucratic obstacles and in dealing with the apathy that often accompanies stray animal issues in Lithuania.

The workshop that included respectable and experienced professionals as guest speakers will greatly contribute to enhancement of credibility of our efforts and mission. Additionally, the workshop helped us publicize our work, including but not limited to TNR, attracting substantial interest, new volunteer contributions, and potential monetary and moral support from the public. Finally, it also has crucial practical implications for veterinary profession in Lithuania, providing the veterinarians with knowledge and practical skills, necessary in adopting modern methods of animal care and treatment.
  We strongly believe that TNR can provide an effective way for permanently reducing stray cat population in Lithuania and we see the workshops similar to the one held in Kaunas and Vilnius as an extremely powerful and important forum for the exchange of ideas and experience, which also has a broad educational purpose, extending beyond its participants into the community as a whole.

Next our steps are to work hard and get TNR approved in other cities of Lithuania and also to change Lithuanian law of keeping, using and caring of animals. We will let you know how things are going for us in the next year report.
  We would like to thank all of you for your help, patience, understanding of needs and support for the countries like Lithuania, where the first steps have just started making animals to live a better life. Doing this makes us much stronger especially when we know that there are people like you, who can help us to find the right way when we are feeling lost, to offer advice when we don’t know what to do and to give us support when we feel like we are losing our struggle for animals.
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