Palm City Residences, Tripoli, a luxury residential compound catering to many international companies and Embassies, has recently established an international standard Stray Cat Management Programme, implemented by Orkin Libya.
The neighbourhood where Palm City is located, similar to most areas in Libya, is home to a free-roaming cat population, given that food is freely available and there is no public programme to manage street animals.
The programme that Palm City has adopted is what is termed a TNR, or trap-neuter-return programme which involves the capture of the animals, performing a sterilization surgery on them so that they can no longer reproduce, and then returning them to the Palm City location.
In environments such as this, international studies indicate that a campaign to just remove cats from the environment will not be successful because new animals will return to the same location. As a result, the only effective option is to sterilize the animals currently in the environment.
Debbie Hirst, Contracts Manager of Orkin Libya (and AmCham Libya President) said, “We were thrilled when Palm City reached out and asked for our support with their stray cat management programme. We know that Palm City strives to provide the highest quality experience to its guests, and managing the street cat issue is part of this. However, it must be done in a humane manner, and based on scientific principles. Simply removing the cats doesn’t accomplish anything. When you remove them, new animals take their place, and the population will continue to grow. The only effective solution is what Palm City has requested, and what Orkin is providing. We would love to see other residential compounds and even entire neighbourhoods implement similar programmes and we are happy to support anyone who is interested in doing it or wants to learn more about it.”
Maltese-owned Palm City Residences is proud to uphold European standards at its property in Libya. Morgan Azzopardi, Palm City Residences General Manager said, “We are committed to following European and international standards for all our guest services and the cat programme is no different. We are cat lovers and fully support their humane treatment, but we also have to keep our guest comfort level in mind. The programme organized by Orkin does that in the best way possible, given the on-the-ground reality in Libya today.”
TNR is considered to be the best solution by international organizations such as Humane Society International, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, DogsTrust Worldwide and Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.
