por 
THE BAJA POST
NEWSROOM
SOURCE: PR NEWSMEDIA
Alley Cat Allies, the leader of the global movement to protect cats and kittens, exposed that the U.S. National Park Service’s (NPS) certification of its administrative record as complete regarding its plan to remove and kill cats in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was false. The organization uncovered that NPS excluded hundreds of public comments from the record.
In its historic lawsuit, Alley Cat Allies argues that NPS did not properly follow legal procedure in developing its plan to kill cats. NPS’s false certification of the administrative record as complete further supports Alley Cat Allies’ argument.
The administrative record is crucial for judicial review of agency decisions, and whether that agency’s actions are lawful, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Among the comments excluded from the record were those of Puerto Rican residents and organizations opposing NPS action against their community’s cats. NPS claims the excluded comments were inadvertently omitted.
«The public expects and deserves transparency from federal agencies, especially when those federal agencies’ actions determine whether cats live or die,» said DanaMarie Pannella, director of law and policy at Alley Cat Allies. «For NPS to exclude so many voices from the administrative record, and then certify it as complete, is an egregious failure.»
Alley Cat Allies will continue its fight to stop NPS’s cruel plan to kill cats. In addition to the false certifications, NPS has disregarded the inherent value of the cats’ lives, the wishes of the San Juan community, and the humane, effective, scientifically-proven approach to community cats: Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).Advocates around the world are urged to continue joining Alley Cat Allies’ Worldwide Protest against NPS’s plan and in support of the cats of San Juan. More information can be found on www.alleycat.org.
