Community Cats Maryland, Inc. - Baltimore's TNR Law

In 2007, Baltimore City passed legislation making the practice of "trap-neuter-return" (TNR) legal and Baltimore City's preferred way of managing its feral cat population. Community Cats Maryland, an independent non-profit organization, has partnered with the City to assist residents with meeting the requirements of the new law.

The City STRONGLY encourages all caretakers to register with CCMD, even if you have not yet TNRed your colony. (Registration information is not shared with the City; it is collected solely for statistical purposes.)

The law requires caretakers to make reasonable, good-faith efforts to:

Humanely trap all their colony cats and have them all altered, vaccinated against rabies and ear-tipped in a specific style.
Return all TNRed colony cats to their colony/home site following full recovery from surgery.
Monitor each colony and have any new cats TNRed.
Provide sufficient food and water to all colony cats, on a regular basis, year-round and in the most sanitary way possible.
Provide the colony cats with adequate shelter.
Keep records on each colony cat, including proof of rabies vaccinations.
Exclude colony cats from the property of neighbors, if neighbors so request.
Work with neighbors to resolve complaints regarding colony cats.
Provide a replacement caretaker during a primary caretaker's temporary or permanent absence.

You can read the TNR law in its entirety on the Baltimore City Health Department website.

In 2007 Baltimore City passed a law we call the TNR law. It made the practice of Trap Neuter Return (TNR) legal and Baltimore City's preferred way of managing its feral cat population. Baltimore City is making efforts to reach out to and work with feral cat/colony caretakers. The new TNR law and supporting regulations do the following: A. Encourage those who care for colony cats to: Contact Community Cats Maryland, Inc. :( a non-profit group that is assisting the City with making TNR successful) The City STRONGLY encourages all caretakers to "register" with CCMD, even if you have not yet TNRed your colony. CCMD is not a City organization and your information is NOT provided to the City or any other municipal organization. It is used solely for statistical purposes, so that we can keep track of the number of colony cats that are out there and so that we can contact caretakers with information about low-cost services and products and to reunite them with a colony cat that has somehow found its way to the Baltimore Animal Care and Rescue Shelter, (BARCS). Further, CCMD can assist caretakers with accomplishing the following requirements. B. Require caretakers to make reasonable, good faith efforts to: 1. Humanely trap all their colony cats and have them all altered, vaccinated against rabies and ear tipped in a specific style. 2. Return all TNRed colony cats to their colony/home site following full recovery from surgery. 3. Monitor each colony and have any new cat(s) that come to the colony, TNRed. 4. Provide sufficient food and water to all colony cats, on a regular basis, year round and in the most sanitary way possible. 5. Provide the colony cats with adequate shelter. 6. Keep records on each colony cat, including proof of the cats rabies vaccination(s). 7. Exclude colony cats from the property of neighbors, if neighbor(s) so request. 8. Work with neighbors to resolve complaints regarding colony cats. 9. Provide a "replacement" caretaker during a caretaker's absence.