Cats, like their humans, are naturally drawn to Las Vegas. The promise of easy riches, free-flowing catnip and the bright lights can be irresistible.

But the outlook is grim for the unlucky few who lose it all and don’t have bus fare back home. They end up begging for handouts at the all-you-can-eat buffets, and seeking refuge during the day from the brutal desert sun.

Fortunately, Best Friends Animal Society has teamed up with a Las Vegas casino to set up a trap-neuter-return program to help Las Vegas ferals. Here’s the story from Best Friends’ staff writer Sandy Miller:

Vegas hotel-casino to have trap/neuter/return program

By Sandy Miller, Best Friends’ staff writer

They aren’t looking to win a seven-figure jackpot that would set them up for life. They aren’t wishing for a lucky turn of the dice. And they couldn’t care less about all those slot machines.

All they’re looking for are regular meals and a safe place to live out their lives. And thanks to Best Friends Animal Society, along with some help from local volunteers, the cats at one large Las Vegas hotel and casino are getting just that.

Like a number of businesses, the hotel-casino has discovered that the best way ― and indeed the most humane way ― to deal with the feral cats on its property is to set up a trap/neuter/return program. So Best Friends staff and local volunteers are setting up feeding stations in areas of the property that don’t have tourist traffic.

“The hotel has done the right thing,” says Shelly Kotter, campaign specialist for Focus on Felines, one of four campaigns aimed at reaching the goal of No More Homeless Pets. “It’s a long-term solution that will have benefits for the hotel and the cats.”

Kotter said she doesn’t want to reveal the name of the hotel-casino because people might abandon their cats there.

Best Friends staff and volunteers will humanely trap the 15 to 20 cats living on the hotel property and take them to a Las Vegas veterinary clinic that has agreed to provide low-cost spaying and neutering.

“Volunteers will be a big part of it,” Kotter says.

Feral and shy cats account for a large percentage of the five million animals that are killed in U.S. shelters each year. But it’s been shown that trapping and killing feral cats does nothing to keep their numbers down. Once those cats are gone, other unaltered cats will simply take their place, bringing nuisances like spraying and late-night mating calls with them. And it doesn’t take long for their populations to grow.

What does work is trap/neuter/return, or TNR. The cats are humanely trapped and taken to a veterinary clinic where they’re spayed or neutered and vaccinated. While under the anesthesia, a small tip of one of their ears is taken off to identify that they’re part of a managed cat colony. Then they’re returned to the area from which they came where caregivers continue to feed and watch over them. Spaying and neutering takes care of all the nuisances associated with unaltered cats.

Best Friends is launching a Las Vegas chapter of its Focus on Felines campaign and hopes more Las Vegas residents will get involved in helping the city’s feral and stray cats ― or “community cats.” Best Friends will hold a free workshop for feral cat caregivers and others interested in learning how to help community cats from 1 to 3 p.m., Sept. 5, inside the Findlay Chevrolet Community Room at 6800 S. Torrey Pines Dr., in Las Vegas.

Among other things, the workshop will cover:

• The basics of TNR
  
• Understanding relocation
  
• Working with your neighbors on nuisance concerns
  
• Working with your local vets
  
• Working with your local government and animal control

To learn more, e-mail Kotter at shellyk@bestfriends.org.

Read more about Best Friends’ Focus on Felines campaign.

Photos by Molly Wald, Best Friends’ photographer.

[LINK: Best Friends Animal Society; TOP PHOTO: icanhascheezburger.com]

Don’t forget! You can leave a comment on this post for an entry in The Cat’s Meow’s giveaway of a custom oil painting of your cat by Linden Alley.

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• After 19 Years of Waiting, Cash Gets Furever Home
• Burning Man Catmobiles
• Eagles Sign Animal Torturer Michael Vick: Take Action

AP reports how the Lied Animal Shelter in Las Vegas is noticing an increased frequency of enraged reactions at the shelter, with verbal asssaults occurring every day. They now call Metro Police or city marshals for help about three times each month for the most serious incidents.

At the heart of the issue is the shelter’s policy which dictates that all animals — no matter how adoptable — be euthanized 72 hours after they arrive. It makes me sick, but it’s an issue of resources, and here’s the math: in 2008, the shelter took in 50,103 animals, and adopted out only 10,320 animals.

Consequently, a LOT of pet owners get told that, yes, their dear pet was at the shelter, but was euthanized before they arrived to claim it. And that’s when people climb over the counters to attack the shelter personnel.

But then there are stories like that of Barbara Marques (in the photo below). Better grab a tissue before you continue reading…

About 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Marques and her husband drove from their North Las Vegas home to the shelter to look for their cat, Puddles, her indoor-outdoor cat that had been missing for a few days. When Puddles saw Marques at the shelter, “he came to the front of the cage like, ‘Oh, she’s here to get me,’?” she said.

Told she needed proof of ownership to get her cat, Marques went home and returned to the shelter at 3:40 p.m. with pictures and receipts from a veterinarian.

Too late, she was told. Puddles’ 72 hours were up at 3:17 p.m. He was put down at 3:35 p.m.

Marques can barely tell the story, dissolving several times into sobs about the black-and-white feline she had for five years.

“I had told the man, ‘Would you please put a statement on the cage not to euthanize? I’m coming back. Don’t do anything to him.’ He said, ‘I’ll do that, but he’s not up for review until tomorrow anyhow, so there’s nothing to worry about. But I’ll put a note on the cage.’?”

When she returned to find Puddles was dead, the man told her he forgot to post the note, she said.

Seitz said the shelter is investigating the incident, which he called rare since 2007, when Lied instituted new procedures. That includes scanning animals for identifying microchips twice, once upon intake and once just before euthanization, just to be sure.

“But if we have one of those (accidents) a year, it’s too many,” Seitz said.

North Las Vegas has an ordinance that does not allow pet owners to let their animals, even cats, to roam, Seitz pointed out. Puddles was trapped by someone who called animal control.

Please consider adding microchipping to your list of New Year’s Resolutions.