Cat Tales (and other stories)

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Bottom Line in all of the scapegoating of cats is...

So the anti-cat folks say:

“Allowing free-ranging pet and feral cats to roam outside, breed unchecked, kill native wildlife, and spread disease is a crime against nature,” says Michael Hutchins, executive director/CEO of The Wildlife Society (TWS), North America’s scientific organization for professionals in wildlife management and conservation.
“There is no perfect answer. But, in my view, the best answer is to encourage cat owners to keep their beloved pets safely indoors, to support legislation (such as leash laws for dogs) that requires pet owners to keep their cats indoors or to allow them outdoors only in enclosed catteries, and to phase out TNR cat colonies, which can become magnets for unwanted pet cats and which send the message that it’s OK to allow large congregations of cats to range freely outside and kill wildlife.”
The Wildlife Society believes that TNR colonies are dumping grounds for unwanted pets.

Let’s take a look at #1: We (the TNR advocates) do NOT allow free-ranging pets to roam outside. We do adoptions of dumped cats and unwanted cats and tell everyone they have to keep the cats indoors.

Still on #1: TNR advocates do NOT allow feral cats to breed unchecked. Many of us (myself included) have spayed and neutered 20,000 feral cats and some of us even more, over the last 20 years.

#2: Local governments looking for quick fixes for the feral cat “problem” never concentrate on TNR or low cost or free spay /neuter of pets. It’s easier to say “legislation, leash laws, feeding bans.” None of these help feral cats in any way. Also #2: TNR eventually does phase out feral cat colonies. I personally have seen the demise of feral colonies I have fixed.

#3. TNR does not cause dumping of unwanted pets.I have worked in animal rescue for several decades. If people want to dump their animals, they dump them anywhere. We have had cats dumped in parking lots, on highways, anywhere you can think of. Some new cats do enter these colonies, but caretakers are vigilant and immediately notice any new cat that does manage to enter ---either by knowing all the cats, or identifying them through their eartips. They will catch these new cats and get them fixed or if the cats are tame, remove them for adoption.

Examples given by Best Friends on colonies that have been reduced through TNR:

ORCAT Project
According to the Grayvik Animal Care Center, approximately 350 stray/feral cats live in the Ocean Reef Club, an exclusive island community just south of Miami. ORCAT (Ocean Reef Club Animal Trap neuter release) is a program that was established by Ocean Reef’s homeowners in 1993 to care for the cats. Since its inception, this TNR program has reduced the community cat population from around 2,000 to 350 cats.
Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association
A dissertation by Felicia Nutter, published in the Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association (2005), evaluating TNR management programs found that a controlled study of TNR and non-TNR colonies showed that within the first two years, all TNR colonies decreased in size by an average of 36 percent, and one went extinct. Within the same time period, all non-TNR colonies increased in size by an average of 47 percent. After seven years, all TNR colonies had five or fewer cats, while the non-TNR colonies continued to increase in size. Immigration into both TNR and breeding colonies was consistent but occurred at low levels in both.
And the following statement by Veronia Lennon is what I like to call “The Bottom Line”

In 2008 Veronica Lennon wrote the following (and I believe this is the bottom line in all of these endless debates and continuous scapegoating of cats):

The American Bird Conservancy and other avian organizations like the National Audubon Society continue to fund, endorse and advance a simplistic anti-cat campaign that does not address the real issue.

Just "keep your cats indoors"? There are millions of homeless felines that do not have that option.

If the American Bird Conservancy and "Cats Indoors!" campaign supporters were intellectually honest, they would attempt to address the problem of feline overpopulation in a meaningful way. Since they reject trap-neuter-return, here are some other ideas on how they could help:

-subsidize spay/neuter clinics

-fund research for feline oral contraceptives

-start a fleet of spay/neuter mobile units

-urge bird lovers to adopt shelter cats

-donate money to existing cat sanctuaries

-stop distributing false information and harmful propaganda

If avian advocacy groups are serious about addressing the issue of feline overpopulation in a humane way, they should prove it. They should stop wasting money on propaganda and divisive tactics and do something effective to solve the problem.

Perhaps Bryan Kortis, Executive Director of New York City's Neighborhood Cats, a group whose mission is "to make TNR a fully understood, accepted and practiced method in every community," said it best: "Ultimately the wildlife and TNR organizations want the same thing — fewer feral cats. The wildlife organizations have no realistic way to get there. We do."

Louise Holton
Alley Cat Rescue
Box 585, Mt. Rainier, MD 20712
301-277-5595
National Free Feral Cat Spay Day is on April 27th. Get your veterinarian involved in helping to save lives!
http://www.saveacat.org/programs.html
http://alleycatrescue.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18444404708&ref=ts

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Eastern Cougar declared extinct

http://www.examiner.com/history-in-harrisburg/history-examiner-short-shots-the-eastern-cougar-and-the-nittany-lion

Monday, February 28, 2011

What is a feral cat?

Feral Cats: What exactly is a feral cat?—by Louise Holton

Any domesticated animal such as a pigeon, pig, horse, dog, or cat who lives away from human contact can revert to a wild state. These animals are called “feral.” Feral kittens are the offspring of a feral mother cat, or they could be born to a domestic mother who has become lost or abandoned, or chooses to have her litter away from humans. In order for kittens to become friendly and completely domesticated, they should be handled from a very early age—before they are two weeks old. Feral mother cats teach their young offspring to be wary of humans and to run and hide if they feel threatened.

Young kittens who have not been handled by humans will spit or hiss when you approach them. Older feral kittens will be wary of humans and flee when approached. A stray domestic cat who has had to survive on her own for a while will initially be wary of humans. However, she will regain her confidence fairly soon after re-establishing contact. There are varying degrees of wariness and shyness among both ferals and other cats who have been abandoned to fend for themselves. It requires a certain amount of experience working with stray and feral cats to be able to properly judge just how feral a cat may be, or if the cat is feral at all, or just a frightened domestic cat. Many domestic cats are killed merely for acting fearful and defensive in a frightening situation—assumed to be feral..

ONE EXAMPLE THAT ILLUSTRATES THIS:

In Prince George’s County, Maryland, a yellow eight-month-old housecat cat was picked up by animal control officers along with a few other stray cats at an apartment complex. The cat, Hunter, had been neutered and vaccinated just two weeks earlier, and had apparently escaped from the apartment when someone accidentally left a door ajar. The cat was examined by two experienced veterinary technicians and an animal control officer, and was deemed “feral.” He was destroyed that same day. When the family went to claim their cat they were told that he was destroyed because he “was attacking, spitting and hissing, and trying to bite the officer through his gloves.” The agency said they held most cats for three to five days but often destroy “fractious” stray cats sooner.

Defining and predicting feral cat behavior can be somewhat murky territory. If a domesticated, friendly cat becomes lost and has to fend for himself for a while, he could temporarily revert to some instinctively wild behavior. Some older feral cats can become fairly tame in time, yet other ferals, even when trapped as young as four months of age, may remain feral forever. Some ferals bond with their original caretaker but may never bond with a new person. During my many years of working with feral cats, I have experienced a wide range of situations with hundreds of ferals. I’ve seen them in a wide variety of circumstances--in my home, at the veterinary clinic, in city alleys, and at the Alley Cat Rescue office with our own adopted feral office cats. The only conclusion one can reach from these combined experiences is that no two feral cats are alike and one can never predict how any feral cat will react to human contact.

The domestic cat is one of the most adaptable mammals on earth and, as we have said, can become feral very quickly. When a household cat is lost or abandoned, she will immediately try to find a food source and shelter. She may find a home with humans—30% of Americans obtain their cat as a stray who arrived on their doorsteps. Or she may find some old boxes behind a convenience store where other ferals have formed a colony, and join this colony. Thirty to 60 percent of lost cats , or cats who wander away from home, will eventually come to live in a feral colony. If she is not sterilized—and most abandoned or lost cats are not--she will soon be pregnant. Usually around half of her kittens will become ill with treatable illnesses, such as upper respiratory infections, and most will die. She will teach her remaining kittens to be feral, teaching them survival behaviors inherited from her wild ancestors.

Most tame domestic cats suffer greatly and cannot survive when they find themselves on their own. But some survive quite well, which is the reason there is such a large population of feral cats all around the world. Even if only meager scraps of food can be found many will survive and breed, sometimes forming large colonies. There is generally an abundance of food discarded in bags, trash cans, and dumpsters in cities and suburbs. Feral cats are opportunistic feeders and scavenge relentlessly for food. They learn very quickly the locations of potential food sources and which households, restaurants, or hotels put out food for them to eat. Often they lie patiently waiting at dumpsters for bags of garbage containing discarded scraps.

British biologist Peter Neville has studied cats and feral cat colonies for decades. He explains them this way: “There is perhaps no such thing as a feral cat, a domestic cat reverted to the wild. Instead all cats--feral, stray, and pet--can be viewed as being the same species as their African Wildcat ancestor, and the pet cat is simply exploiting an attractive opportunity. The ‘normal’ lifestyle is living around and with man, but not necessarily to the height of luxury that we offer him as a pet. Then the success of the cat ‘living rough’ and away from the direct care of man is that much easier to comprehend.”

Obviously, many of those who work in humane organizations would not be willing to admit this. It seems to many that, in order to discourage household cats from being abandoned to the streets to “fend for themselves,” they are loathe to admit that any cat, even a feral cat, can survive on her own. This is where the myths and misinformation begin and theories about what constitutes the proper way to protect feral cats become muddied. Yet, in defense of those who feel that all cats are helpless on their own, they have usually witnessed a tremendous amount of suffering and neglect among the animals they have dedicated themselves to protecting. Many cats have been abused, relinquished to shelters for euthanasia when they become inconvenient, and some are treated appallingly by humans. But for every person who treats an animal badly there are many more who care properly for their animals, many who treat their companion animals as part of the family. And many who care for and feed feral cats to whom they have no obligation, except that their compassion dictates that they must.

Those who believe no cat can survive on her own face contradiction when colonies of ferals are seen to be surviving quite well. And when the cats have been trapped and sterilized, provided with shelter, food, and water, the cats actually thrive. It may seem contradictory to admonish people that is cruel to abandon cats to fend for themselves while saying that many cats can survive quite well on their own. However, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to care for the animals that we have domesticated, whether by taking them into our homes, or by making their life in our alleyways a little easier. We do not condone leaving any cats to survive on their own. We believe it is in the best interests of feral cats that they be sterilized and that their lives be made as comfortable and stress-free as possible, with a caring person who provides shelter and daily food and water.