It’s a topic that can turn even the mildest-mannered “cat people” into snarling, hissing adversaries: trap, neuter, release (TNR). The debate is heating up even more as so-called “no-kill” lobbyists are pressuring animal shelters to embrace this approach in an effort to make their “saved” statistics look better. But are cats who are turned away onto the streets actually “saved”?

With much of the country in the grip of an Arctic blast of cold air, now is the…