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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / April 2004Feral neuter and release
In the county where I live, we have a county run animal shelter and a few privately run rescue shelters. The county shelter is in a state of turmoil, no full time director(original fired a year ago - interim director quit after 3 months), a few former employees doing expose type interviews with the local newspaper etc. They euthanize quite a few animals. Their method for dealing with ferals is to evaluate for a few days and in most cases euthanize. I don't really feel this is fair opportunity for proper evaluation since some ferals could be saved and homed if properly socialized. On the other extreme, the privately run rescues trap, neuter and release ferals back into the same area they were taken from. As a small mammal rehabber, I frequently see the destruction to native wildlife these ferals cause. Finding uneaten carcasses of small mammals and all variety of birds indicates a lot of sport hunting by these animals. The early census this spring shows more than the usual number of raided rabbit and squirrel nests. Coons seem to be holding their own, but I have found a few nests of dead babies. Hawk and owl nests are being targeted heavily this year too. Feral cat numbers are up all over the place. Considering the damage the ferals do, I have really serious misgivings about neuter and release. It's too bad the county shelter and the rescues can't be brought closer to the same page on this matter and deal with the ferals without release to the wild. Since both of the rescues have former county employees on their staffs, the chances of ever getting them together on any issue is pretty slim. The wildlife officers who regulate and license my efforts work through the county shelter. Although that hardly places me in the same league as the shelter staff, the rescue people here see me as little more than an extension of the shelter although they certainly more than anyone else should know better. The county shelter BTW does not deal with any wildlife whatsoever. In view of this scenario, how should evaluation of ferals for homing be done and what time frame is adequate? Hard to answer for sure but it really is a problem in this neck of the woods. | Their method for dealing with ferals is to evaluate for a few days | and in most cases euthanize. Animal Control is a death sentence for ferals, yes. The evaluation is basically a determination of whether the cat is in fact feral. If it is, curtains. But it could be a stray instead. And in that case, I'd agree that a few days may not be enough to gauge its potential for rehabilitation. The few days at issue, however, are a function of resources: if there isn't enough holding space, animals will be triaged. Borderline cases lose. | I don't really feel this is fair opportunity for proper evaluation | since some ferals could be saved and homed if properly socialized. Unlikely. Socializing ferals is a long term process. It requires considerable patience, attention and dedication on the part of the adopter. The average person showing up at the shelter to adopt a cat is not likely to be up to that. And the Animal Control people know this. | On the other extreme, the privately run rescues trap, neuter and | release ferals back into the same area they were taken from. Do they run proper colonies (with feeding stations, regular feeding schedules, outdoor shelters for the winter, etc.), or do they just neuter them and then leave them to their own devices? | Feral cat numbers are up all over the place. Then someone is feeding them without neutering them. You've claimed evidence of *sport* hunting - uneaten carcasses - which means that their food is coming from elsewhere. | Considering the damage the ferals do, I have really serious misgivings | about neuter and release. The alternative is putting them down. TNR, properly executed, is aimed at long term population control. If feral cat numbers are *up*, as you claim, it isn't TNR that isn't working - TNR is just not being done on a sufficient scale. | In view of this scenario, how should evaluation of ferals for homing be | done and what time frame is adequate? There is no reliable protocol. Socializing ferals is a matter of will and acceptance of less than optimal results (the feral may never become a cuddly pussycat.) There may not even be appreciable progress for months. | Hard to answer for sure but it really is a problem in this neck of the | woods. Find the feeders. Your county needs to TNR more cats.  SignatureSee the video at the Neighborhood Cats website: http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/ http://www.madotv.com/video/cats.ram > Do they run proper colonies (with feeding stations, regular feeding > schedules, outdoor shelters for the winter, etc.), or do they just > neuter them and then leave them to their own devices? The rescue groups simply don't have the funds to manage feeding stations, so no there isn't any colony management. The best they can manage is making a dent in the ability to reproduce. > | Feral cat numbers are up all over the place. > > Then someone is feeding them without neutering them. You've claimed > evidence of *sport* hunting - uneaten carcasses - which means that their > food is coming from elsewhere. The food is coming from the abundance of wild creatures which is absolutely being decimated at this time. The sport kills may stem from the possibility that many of the new ferals appear to be quite young, thus lacking experience which they get by thrill kills. The sudden surge in the number of younger ferals leads me to think that a larger number of litters are being dumped. As for other sources of food - who knows? It's a pretty large area. > | Considering the damage the ferals do, I have really serious misgivings > | about neuter and release. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > claim, it isn't TNR that isn't working - TNR is just not being done on a > sufficient scale. Thus is the problem of animal management in the wild. There never seems to be enough resources to do anything on a large enough scale to manage a problem. The immediate issue is a sudden boom in the population of destructive animals not indigenous to the local ecosystem - feral cats. The local farmers are hunting down some of the ferals but there isn't any way to track how many they are taking down. > > Do they run proper colonies (with feeding stations, regular feeding > > schedules, outdoor shelters for the winter, etc.), or do they just > > neuter them and then leave them to their own devices? > > The rescue groups simply don't have the funds to manage feeding > stations, so no there isn't any colony management. This is contrary to the spirit of any TNR operation. TNR isn't just about population control, it's about a level of quality in the lives of managed feral cats. Implied in the "Release" aspect of the policy is lifelong maintenance, not only providing food and shelter, but monitoring the health of both individuals and the cat colony, as a whole. "Rescue" groups who merely sterilize and turn cats out to fend for themselves aren't doing cats much of a favor. They traumatize and perform surgery on cats who will die soon, anyway. It doesn't cost _that_ much to feed ferals, especially with an organized group for support. Non-profits can solicit freebies from food manufacturers, distributors, retailers and liquidators. A member with fund-raising skills can often scrounge up a grant or two or offer a TNR program to businesses or corporations in exchange for a contribution. Groups can place donation bins at pet stores, malls, fairs, etc. They can use adoption fees from socialized cat adoptions to support colonies. Most importantly, organized groups can press the county to supply at least some of the funds for the S/N, freeing up money for food supplies. > The best they can manage is making a dent in the ability to reproduce. The county and the community at large should foot some of the bill for this. Humane organizations must develop and flex their muscles. Cost studies from San Diego and Santa Clara County, CA. have shown that it is actually cheaper in the long run for local governments to support free and low cost SN than it is to euthanize large numbers of stray and feral cats, if the shelter abides by the mandatory holding period for strays. > > | Feral cat numbers are up all over the place. (snip) > The sport kills may stem from the possibility > that many of the new ferals appear to be quite young, thus lacking > experience which they get by thrill kills. Utter nonsense! Feral cats that must fend for themselves are like other wild animals. They kill and devour their prey quickly before another animal comes along and takes it away from them. I suppose you have some proof that it is actually feral cats that are preying upon wildlife, even baby coons? I have to say that I would very much like to see any feral cat, anywhere, anytime, try to take on a mother raccoon defending her young. You must be mad! > The sudden surge in the number of younger ferals leads me to think > that a larger number of litters are being dumped. Feral kittens aren't "dumped", they're born in the wild. > The local farmers are hunting down some of the ferals but there isn't > any way to track how many they are taking down. Terrific, so what's your problem? << This is contrary to the spirit of any TNR operation. TNR isn't just about population control, it's about a level of quality in the lives of managed feral cats. Implied in the "Release" aspect of the policy is lifelong maintenance, not only providing food and shelter, but monitoring the health of both individuals and the cat colony, as a whole. >> The TNR group that I have started to volunteer for is geared to people who are feeding stray/feral cats at their homes or businesses and expects them to continue to take responsibility for the cats after the TNR...continue to feed them and monitor their health. In fact, I'm not quite sure of their official stance on cats who no one is going to care for after the neutering. azcats.org Candace (take the litter out before replying by e-mail) See my cats: http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace "One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human." (Loren Eisely) TNR, like "no-kill," has its variances and interpretations when put into practice. Ideally, a feral population is humanely live-trapped, tested (for FIV/FeLV), vaccinated (for distemper/rabies) and treated for whatever else is obviously needing treatment (fleas, etc.), ear-tipped, sterilized, then returned to home-base and monitered/tended for life. (Kittens, of course, are taken in for socializing and adoption.) All very expensive and labor-intensive and time-consuming. I know this first-hand. Next-best is at least sterlization/vaccination with a dedicated feeder/caretaker for each colony or beastie (for backyard ferals). I would be interested to hear from other nonprofits and rescuers on their take on TNR. Sharon Talbert Campus Cats campuscats.org | TNR, like "no-kill," has its variances and interpretations when put | into practice. Ideally, a feral population is humanely live-trapped, | tested (for FIV/FeLV), vaccinated (for distemper/rabies) and treated | for whatever else is obviously needing treatment (fleas, etc.), | ear-tipped, sterilized, then returned to home-base and monitered/tended | for life. The organizations I work with don't test ferals for FIV/FeLV. If the diseases were rampant, it could (or would) be a different story, but with an incidence of well under 5% - and problems with false positives - we avoid the budget busting expense. Some also do not believe in putting healthy (or asymptomatic) ferals to sleep. Their lot is a tough one. Most don't live too long anyway. So, the theory is to take one's chances with the cats' immune systems being up to snuff through proper nutrition - a *much* better way to spend the little money there is. (Generally, it's the *kittens* who are most at risk, precisely because of their weak immune systems. But, if colonies are stabilized through TNR, there won't be any kittens to worry about!) Yes, the testing thing is controversial. Campus Cats has always combo-tested (FIV/FeLV). If an animal appears healthy and is low-risk or come up with a weak postive in-house, our vet sends out a specimen for a more accurate test. Generally, we euthanize the carriers. (We work with ferals, remember, so the indoor life is rarely an option for them.) We have placed a couple of FIV+ youngsters who were otherwise healthy, in homes with another FIV cat needing company. Just once we adopted out a confirmed FeLV+ kitten to one of our vet's staff. Never again. Testing is expensive (it adds $15 per animal to our costs) but we feel strongly that it is the right thing to do. Just as we feel that vaccinating for rabies as well as for distemper is the right thing to do. Releasing infectious animals back into a population that has contact with roving pets does not sit well with us, especially when we know that a carrier will eventually die a lingering death. They haven't the luxury of the indoor-only and carefully tended live of a FIV+ pet. That FIV is not prevalent among the feral population is something I question, given what I have observed first-hand here at the University of Washington and in at least one other of our neighborhood colonies. I have seen whole colonies die out from FIV. One colony even had two females with FIV, one reaching a ripe old age and the other dying young. Another may have had a kitten with FIV; we'll never for sure because our vet didn't test the kitten and we thought she had (the owner called us a few months later with the news of FIV). This message is long but not meant as a rant. It's just something that Campus Cats thought through and wrote into our mission at the start. Just my $2 worth (the cost is up from 2 cents, all considered). Sharon Talbert Friends of Campus Cats | Testing is expensive (it adds $15 per animal to our costs) but we feel | strongly that it is the right thing to do. It's more than that for us. The Humane Society charges $32, and it's no less than $50 elsewhere. For a mass trapping - we need 20+ cats to get the services of the ASPCA mobile van, for instance - the expense would be out of sight. | Just as we feel that vaccinating for rabies as well as for distemper | is the right thing to do. The distemper part is interesting. The HS won't do it unless you ask them (they'll do the rabies for free, though) - they say that the FVRCP shot isn't worth it without the followup shot several weeks later. So, this is an optional part of our programs. | Releasing infectious animals back into a population that has contact | with roving pets does not sit well with us, especially when we know | that a carrier will eventually die a lingering death. The risk to roving pets we don't care about. We've caught enough of them while trying for ferals to consider them a nuisance. The lingering death part is hypothetical - death due to misadventure is the typical lot of a feral cat. | That FIV is not prevalent among the feral population is something I | question, given what I have observed first-hand here at the University | of Washington and in at least one other of our neighborhood colonies. | I have seen whole colonies die out from FIV. Then they already had it from pre-TNR times. FIV is transmitted by bite wounds: I find it unlikely that a stabilized colony would have as much fighting as would be needed to infect everyone. | This message is long but not meant as a rant. It's just something that | Campus Cats thought through and wrote into our mission at the start. Here's a "rant" propounding the other view :-) http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/info/releasing.htm > | Testing is expensive (it adds $15 per animal to our costs) but we feel > | strongly that it is the right thing to do. [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > wounds: I find it unlikely that a stabilized colony would have as much > fighting as would be needed to infect everyone. Correct but what they do is transmit it to rogue house cats that enter their territory. -L. | The rescue groups simply don't have the funds to manage feeding stations, | so no there isn't any colony management. I don't know know why, but I sort of suspected this. They aren't really implementing TNR, they're just neutering the adults they happen to catch while going after kittens. | The best they can manage is making a dent in the ability to reproduce. Yes and no. A couple of cats here and there make no difference. Until every cat in a colony is fixed, the reproductive "threat" remains - and cats can increase their numbers astonishingly quickly. | The food is coming from the abundance of wild creatures which is | absolutely being decimated at this time. Decimation of abundance is part of the natural predator-prey cycle. | The sport kills may stem from the possibility that many of the new | ferals appear to be quite young, thus lacking experience which they | get by thrill kills. Not really. Cats aren't the only sport killers around. Some mustelids can be just as enthusiastic, if not more. | The sudden surge in the number of younger ferals leads me to think | that a larger number of litters are being dumped. That would make them strays, not ferals. Do you have many "backyard breeders" in your area? | The immediate issue is a sudden boom in the population of destructive | animals not indigenous to the local ecosystem - feral cats. The bit about cats being exotic to woodland North America is overplayed IMO, to the extent that just about any evidence of predation is nowadays automatically attributed to them. Cats are not the only predators around. You may *see* more cats than other species, simply because cats, all said and done, are artifacts of human civilization and tend to remain close to human habitation. That doesn't mean that cats are the culprits. That said, a proper plan for population control is a must. Frlpwr has posted some ideas. Maybe you could get the local media involved? > I don't know know why, but I sort of suspected this. They aren't really > implementing TNR, they're just neutering the adults they happen to catch > while going after kittens. They do what they can. While not enough, they are at least getting a handle on the numbers of ferals out there. > Decimation of abundance is part of the natural predator-prey cycle. It is still catastrophic to the wild creature population . > That would make them strays, not ferals. Do you have many "backyard > breeders" in your area? Strays? nah... Feral - indeed. Put any spin you like on it, these are wild hunters regardless of whether bred in the environment or dumped there as infants. > | The immediate issue is a sudden boom in the population of destructive > | animals not indigenous to the local ecosystem - feral cats. > > The bit about cats being exotic to woodland North America is overplayed Exotic? no.. Seriously out of balance population? Yes. > IMO, to the extent that just about any evidence of predation is nowadays > automatically attributed to them. Locally we've seen cycles like this before. The state wildlife officers whose job it is to monitor and record animal populations in this case are attributing the overkill by predators to the correct species. The cat population is indeed responsible. > That said, a proper plan for population control is a must. Frlpwr has > posted some ideas. Maybe you could get the local media involved? I doubt they would have much influence(or willingness to report) in the situation. Their relationship with the county animal control people is somewhat adversarial at best. Many of those in the private rescues are former county employees who've had their feet held to the fire by the local newspaper during their time with the shelter. It's a shame too because after many years of dealing with substandard facilities they now have a new state of the art animal care facility. It was quite an expensive undertaking. Politics - what else - is behind the ongoing turmoil. Euthanizing is not the course of action that should be taken with ferals. They deserve the right to live. The best thing for ferals is spay/neuter, given vaccinations, and released back into their familiar environment. Setting up a feeding station at your home is a pretty nice thing to do for them. I got a lot of info about ferals from AzCATS and learned quite a bit about how to handle situations regarding ferals. You can find their Web Site at www.azcats.org. SignaturePanther TEK: Staying On Top Of All Your Computer Needs! www.members.cox.net/catprotector/panthertek Cat Galaxy: All Cats, All The Time! www.catgalaxymedia.com > In the county where I live, we have a county run animal shelter and a few > privately run rescue shelters. The county shelter is in a state of turmoil, [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > and what time frame is adequate? Hard to answer for sure but it really is a > problem in this neck of the woods. I don't have an answer to your question, but I have one of my own -- if the cats weren't predating on these small mammals and birds, wouldn't something else be doing it? This has always been a question for me when faced with issues of 'introduced species' (we're all 'introduced species' when you get right down to it). PLEASE do not hear me saying I approve of feral cat predation -- I just wonder if the problem is overstated. Where I live, we have a large colony of monk parrots that resulted from a release of a pair of pet monk parrots several years ago by a clueless bird owner. When first discovered, there was much wringing of hands about the environmental impact of this situation, but over the years it they have integrated themselves pretty seamlessly into the bird population here. Undoubtedly, they have probably done so in ways that *humans* don't care for, but ultimately, it seems to me, natural balance has the last word, and left to themselves, the cats & their prey will come to some sort of stasis. Essentially, I wonder if the whole debate about feral cat predation is simply a form of human preference for one species of animal over another. Some people prefer birds to cats and curse the cats. Some people prefer cats to birds and curse the birds. Don't try and tell me that cats are wiping out entire species of birds and small mammals, because that's simply not the case. A few nests of dead baby racoons does not equal a massacre. You have sympathy for those small animals, and that's laudable. But is killing the babies of another type of animal to preserve *those* babies logical? I don't think so. Things that appear ugly to *us* are not necessarily bad or undesirable in the natural world. I have no conclusion, just thoughts -- L. > In the county where I live, we have a county run animal shelter and a few > privately run rescue shelters. The county shelter is in a state of turmoil, [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > and what time frame is adequate? Hard to answer for sure but it really is a > problem in this neck of the woods. I'm with you, Lotte. Cats are highly overrated as predators of songbirds, certainly. But try telling that to the Audubon Society. I figure if ecology-minded Extra-Terrestials visited Earth, ours would be the first species they would erradicate (or at least TNR). Sharon Talbert Friends of Campus (feral) Cats sharon@campuscats.org |
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