August 2007

Will the clowns get you?

To all of our valued colleagues in rescue:

We are sending this letter in order to prevent any future confusion between our rescue organization, which has actively enjoyed a good working relationship with you for years, and the newly formed CFA Breeders Assistance and Breed Rescue.

Our rescue, CFA Purebred Rescue, Inc. (CFAPR), DBA Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (PCBR), is the same group we have always been, a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit rescue, incorporated in Minnesota and recently in Kentucky. We are guided by an elected Board of Directors, operating under the guidance of our Bylaws, and lead by our President, Linda Pollack Mercer, M.D. While we appreciate the support of cat fanciers from the three major registries (the Cat Fanciers Association, The International Cat Association, and the American Cat Fanciers Association), and other cat lovers, we are independent of any registry.

A new entity, CFA Breeders Assistance and Breed Rescue, has been created recently by The Cat Fanciers’ Association, a feline registry, with different policies and goals in place than ours. The differences are clear and important. Therefore, we would like to remind you of our goals and policies that have served the cat fancy and literally tens of thousands of cats so well for many years.

What we are at the core is a rescue organization that has focused on the rescue of pedigreed and pedigree-look-alike cats. We achieve our goal by maintaining working relationships with shelters, animal control facilities, veterinarians, fosters, and transport volunteers all across the country.

We assist in getting purebred cats out of high risk situations, be they owner-relinquished to shelters where they are at risk or from overwhelmed breeders or animal hoarders. We work with local shelters, animal control, our affiliates, and local approved rescues to move them safely and quickly and ultimately to a new pet home via a well-established transport, foster, veterinarian, and adoption network.

We relieve the burden of high numbers of abandoned cats in partner shelters by arranging for the transport and ultimate adoption of pedigreed cat and pedigreed-look-alike (”purebred”) cats.

We educate the public about responsible pet ownership, and the important role that rescue plays in the cat fancy.

Perhaps our most important policy is that the rescued cats we are involved with are NOT used for breeding nor are they available for breeding. By the time cats end up in a rescue situation, they have potentially suffered illness, neglect, loss of a loved one, and are already traumatized by new surroundings. We are interested in giving them peace of mind for the rest of their lives. Irresponsibly releasing them from rescue unspayed and unneutered would compound their stress. In addition to this strict policy, breeders who sign their cats over to us directly must agree to stop breeding permanently.

The point of this letter is that we are NOT the same group as the new CFA Breeders’ Assistance and Breed Rescue, even though the acronym makes it confusing. In order to clear up this confusion, we are considering changing our name to Cat Fancier’s Alliance Purebred Rescue. This matter is still under discussion. We will keep you posted.

We encourage you to visit our web site at http://purebredcats.org or contact any of our Board members, if you have any questions about our organization or our credentials. You will find more specific information on our policies and procedures at
http://purebredcats.org/aboutus.htm#forms and below you will find a listing of our Board members and their contact information.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Hopefully there will be no confusion now as to who we are compared to the newly formed group. We look forward to continuing our working relationship with you in the future for the betterment of all felines!

By unanimous vote, the above was approved by the following members of the Board of CFA Purebred Rescue, Inc, on August 8th, 2007:

Linda Pollack Mercer, M.D.
President, CFA Purebred Rescue, Inc

Linda Hudman, CPA
Treasurer, CFA Purebred Rescue, Inc.
President, Hal’s Haven, Inc.

Allyson Lusby
Secretary, CFA Purebred Rescue, Inc.
Scott County Humane Society, KY

Linda Brackett
North East Regional Coordinator, CFA Purebred Rescue, Inc.
President & Director, Nemasket Orphaned Animal Haven, Inc.

Susan Sarason
Gulf States Regional Rescue Coordinator
St. Francis Animal Sanctuary Board Officer Emeritus

DeLynne Satimore
TICA Liaison – Chairperson, TICA Rescue Committee
Vice President & Rescue Coordinator, Scottish Fold Rescue, Inc.

Warren Cox
Retired – previously Director, SPCA of Texas (Dallas, TX);
Montgomery Co. Animal Shelter (Dayton, OH); Director of Animal
Protection for the American Humane Association (Denver, CO)

Jamie Christian
TICA Great Lakes Regional Director (TICA Board Member)

Jane Waller, DVM
Marshall Veterinary Clinic and Companion Pet Placement, MO

Linda Pollack Mercer, M.D.
President & Rescue Coordinator
CFA Purebred Rescue, Inc., (501c3)
D/B/A Purebred Cat Breed Rescue,
D/B/A Cat Fanciers’ Alliance Purebred Rescue
Director, Operation Noble Foster,
The Persian Rescue Email list: (Moderator)
The Rescue Siamese Email List: (Moderator)

Great picture of a cat grabbing… you figure it out