Onslow County Animal Services outlines TNR, spay-neuter resources for February outreach

Onslow County Animal Services described its trap-neuter-return program and spay-neuter outreach on a county media program, urging residents who feed free-roaming cats to follow specific steps and directing people to local clinic and county contacts.

Tyler Moore, with the Onslow County Animal Services Department, explained the program: “TNR is something called trap neuter return.” He said volunteers or partner organizations trap cats, take them to a local clinic for sterilization, vaccination and ear-tipping, then return them to the same location to stabilize and reduce populations over time.

Moore said the county uses a grant from Best Friends (Best Friends Animal Society) to cover surgeries for the program and pointed listeners to Adoption First, a local clinic that handles walk-in feral cat surgeries on Mondays. “Just call ahead and talk to them,” Moore said, identifying the clinic’s veterinarian as “Dr. Denis.”

Moore offered guidance for residents who feed community cats: feed on private property when possible, pick food up after about 30 minutes to avoid overfeeding and attracting pests, and avoid feeding on other people’s property. He noted public-health benefits from vaccination, including reduced risk of diseases such as rabies and distemper.

The county provided Animal Services’ contact details during the segment: the office is at 244 Georgetown Road in Jacksonville; the phone number given was 910-455-0182. Moore framed February as spay-neuter awareness month and encouraged residents to use their veterinarians or local clinics to obtain sterilization for owned pets as part of broader population-control efforts.

No formal actions or policy changes were announced during the segment; the discussion was informational and focused on ongoing TNR work, volunteer support and available local resources.