Cat Utopia seeks support from Union County for Trap Neuter Return Program
By Garrett Christensen on Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
UNION COUNTY – During a recent commission meeting, Cat Utopia Union County appealed to local county leadership to support its Trap Neuter Return (TNR) Program and emphasized the need for a more extensive cat ordinance in the county. Initially organized around five years ago, TNR is an effort to ethically reduce the volume of feral cats proliferating in the county. Volunteers assist residents/landowners in trapping feral cats, lending out traps, and providing financial support in spaying and neutering costs.
According to information provided to commissioners, Cat Utopia pays $30 on each female cat and $20 for each male cat, with Animal Health Center providing the spaying/neutering services. This leaves the feeding/trapping party left to pay $40 on females and $30 on males. In the past, grants could reduce costs to trappers to as low as $10, though these are reportedly no longer available in Union County.
With the volume of cats overseen by cat Utopia, costs can increase quickly. Cat Utopia reports in 2025 that 131 cats were spayed and neutered as part of low cost spay and neuter runs, while 171 ferals were spayed and neutered as part of the TNR program.
Beyond TNR, Cat Utopia Union County reports 425 cats were taken in in 2025 (some from out of the county), with 160 adopted out, 256 transported to larger rescues, one reportedly died, and three were returned to their owners. The cats were reportedly brought in from the following locations:
- Union County: 378
- Cove: 9
- Elgin: 33
- Imbler: 17
- Island City: 4
- La Grande: 218 (100 reportedly out of Sundowner Trailer Park)
- North Powder: 4
- Summerville: 6
- Union: 19
- Remainder: 68
- Baker County: 22
- Wallowa County: 6
- Umatilla County: 7
- Elsewhere in Oregon: 12
According to Beverly Beach with Cat Utopia Union County, the organization is seeking $1,500 dollars from Union County to support the TNR program, with the city of La Grande already having pledged $1,350 dollars toward a TNR account with Animal Health Center. Beach emphasized the need to keep ferals spayed to keep numbers from escalating. One example given was 20 cats taken from a feral colony on end road that could have easily multiplied into well over 150 as the local resident in question didn’t have the money to spay/neuter them.
Beach also emphasized the need to create a formal ordinance for stray or feral cats as the county currently lacks one. During the meeting, Commissioner Scarfo expressed some hesitance for county funding as the majority of the 2025 cats were specifically from La Grande, though commissioners agreed to discuss it as a budget line-item next month as the county’s budget season is coming up.
The request for a formal cat ordinance was also taken into consideration by commissioners, though it was emphasized that it will take time to develop.
