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Love or hate it; politics is a part of our work in animal welfare. Laws, ordinances, and regulations - or the lack of them - can impact our ability to save lives positively and negatively. For example, some communities have laws that consider feral cats to be abandoned. That means a TNVR program (trap-neuter-vaccinate-return) may mean you run afoul of that law anytime you take the last step of that process by returning the newly fixed, vaccinated cat to where they were found. But these are tumultuous times, and elected officials are faced with massive issues such as policing, budgets, housing, and everything else we’re dealing with in this post-pandemic world. Ensuring you are working with your lawmakers in the best way possible may determine whether your issue passes or fails. This week we chatted with current Nashville, Tennessee district councilmember Kathleen Murphy, and former Tennessee State Representative Eric Swafford, both of whom are Best Friends legislative and advocacy team members. Resources: Read about the results of the smashing success of July's National Adoption Weekend event: https://bit.ly/3diIA0R (https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/program-spotlights/second-national-adoption-weekend-results-nearly-10000-animals) Become a Best Friends network partner: https://bit.ly/3ApfXZf (https://network.bestfriends.org/join-us/become-network-partner) For more resources on this topic, and photos and bios for this week's guests, check out the website for this episode: https://bit.ly/3BZuqfh (https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-123)