We are writing to provide clarity to the animal welfare community: The Community Cat Program has been validated as legal in its current form since February 2025, and criteria have been established to support the lawfulness of other community cat programs in California, making them an essential tool for modern sheltering.

The court’s decision: Affirms the legality of SDHS’s revised Community Cat Program. The court expressly found that the February 2025 revisions to its Community Cat Program protocols comply with California law and may remain in force.