Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

[Gleb]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

No one is saying we should kill them just for the sake of killing them. And no one is saying that the best method to any pest management situation isn't prevention--prevention of dumping, getting people to fix their animals, etc. What we are saying is that the magnitude of the problem is not something that TNR/TNVR can address alone in either a timely enough manner to negate the damage to wildlife nor a cost effective enough manner as to be economically plausible (and the stuff about printing whatever you money need is how you devalue a currency and crash an economy, so raising government money in a functional manner is mostly and most wisely restricted to tax revenue). And I'm specifically saying that TNR programs have been demonstrated to not work when it comes to controlling feral cat colony populations.

In some places where wildcats have a native range--Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, particularly in mainland ecosystems, this probably isn't as big of a deal...since the domestic cat is (recently) related to the wildcat, I'd guess that there is a less pronounced impact on wildlife because species has evolved along with the wildcat. But in the Americas, Australia, the islands of SE Asia, there are different species of native (wild) cats...heck, Australia doesn't have any, and the US's closest wild cat (in terms of behavior and size and prey) is the bobcat (which is a predation threat to the whooping crane popluation), but bobcat have a much larger range, are solitary (female ranges almost never overlap), and breed less.

Wild animals or not - they're still homeless. It can be said about any kind of animal that can be wild as well as domestic - snakes, dogs, cats, et cetera. If the government can't afford taking care of these animals, the money can be always raised by those who care about the animals. Maybe they don't be able to gain a lot of it in a short time, but slowly they WILL gain enough of it. After all, people have at least one subject that is sensitive to them. War veterans, homeless people, homeless animals, paganism, what have you. The government simply isn't capable taking care of all those things. Government isn't a god. So people raise money and take the matter in their own hands as much as possible. There are even special web sites dedicated for this.
If... If we can't find a solution to homeless wild cats, perhaps they should be exported to special preservation areas. Costs (probably) less and pays off to everyone. Nobody is going to be killed or hurt, money will be (possibly saved) and everyone is happy.
Sorry if my comments seemed to be rude. The subject is important to me, that's all. Not because CATS. Because animals. If you look at it scientifically, humans are animals too. Smarter we are, we passed evolution of some thousands of years but biologically we're animals.

[ThePaganMafia]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

Lol these animals are not homeless in the same sense that humans are homeless. Cats have far less needs than animals. Feral cats do not need taken care of. They are wild animals. WILD ANIMALS.

[Gleb]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

That's why they don't need to live in the same place humans do.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

They're not wild. They've been dumped, and those who were born to the dumpees are simply 2nd generation dumpees. The housecat was bred to be a housecat. It's like saying a Pomeranian who has a litter of puppies who never see humans will see those puppies survive just like wolves who've been in the wild since the dawn of the species.

[ThePaganMafia]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

Lol what? An animal that is born in the wild and is not socialized to humans is a wild animal whether it be a Pomeranian or a cat.

Regardless of the definition we don't need to waste endless resources to house them, feed them, or take care of them particularly since they are wild animals. If the population is a problem euthanize them.

[Munin-Hugin]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

I know that this thread has reached many pages, and to be honest I haven't read them all so I'm not sure if this has been stated or not.

There is a difference between feral, stray, and wild cats. Wild cats are those that have never known any sort of human interaction at all, and it has been as such through their ancestry as well. This would include bobcats, cervals, and lots of other species. These guys do quite well on their own, don't impact the ecological balance, and tend to be very far from friendly. A feral cat is the offspring of domestic cats who have been raised in the wild without any or very little human contact. They adapt pretty quickly to living on their own, but tend not to live as long as wild cats as they no longer have the natural selection of disease and parasite resistance of their wild cousins. Over time, feral cat offspring can become wild. Lastly, stray cats are simply those poor homeless kitties that have either run away or have been kicked out by their humans (those jerks > ). They do okay for a little while by themselves, but tend to not live long at all because of many of the same reasons as ferals, but with even less of a chance. Their offspring, if left to grow in the wild, are ferals.

It's pretty easy to tell ferals, wilds, and strays apart just by looking at them. Strays tend to be very poorly kept, with matted and dirty fur, and appear malnourished. Ferals and wilds, on the other hand, are used to the living conditions of outdoors and so appear much better groomed and cared for. Though, wilds tend to be larger than ferals, as they have much more time at the whole adapting thing.

[thalassa]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

If... If we can't find a solution to homeless wild cats, perhaps they should be exported to special preservation areas. Costs (probably) less and pays off to everyone. Nobody is going to be killed or hurt, money will be (possibly saved) and everyone is happy.

Sorry if my comments seemed to be rude. The subject is important to me, that's all. Not because CATS. Because animals. If you look at it scientifically, humans are animals too. Smarter we are, we passed evolution of some thousands of years but biologically we're animals.

Pretty sure this won't cost less...but even if it did...

Where are you going to put them that they can't kill native wildlife? Are you going to fix all incoming cats so they don't breed? Who is going to feed them? Who is paying for that food? Who is paying for their medical costs? How are you ensuring that they can't escape?

This is meant to be funny, but its based on actual science, and its fairly consistent with other studies of its type (actually some of the numbers are a bit low)...and considering that these are house cats, the numbers are higher for feral cats that depend on hunting for a living.

The only answer to the feral cat problem (also the feral pig problem...beavers in Argentina, cane toads in Australia, racoons in Japan, and any number of the wrong bird wherever) that protects biodiversity (that keeps native animals alive) is to keep feral cat populations (or any other invasive species) as low as possible, by whatever means actually work. TNR does not reduce colony size in any constructive way---there are plenty of studies that support this.


IMO: The best (ie most effective) management plan would be one that is based on education, free spay and neuter clinics, leash/enclosure laws, spay/neuter laws, licenses for breeders, the capture and rehabilitate kittens for adoption when possible, capture and put in some feral cat shelter adults without diseases (if services exist for them), and humanely euthanize those with untreatable communicable diseases. By the way, a number of these things are already done...the problem is still the ones that you can't shelter or find homes for.

[anunitu]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

Funny maybe,but Mars need cats(Movie named Mars need women)

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

The differences between wild, tame, and domesticated can be easily searched and verified.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

I found a solution! Bring back Alf!! (He was an alien character on a tv show in the 80's)

[Rae'ya]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

How have you lot added SIX PAGES to this overnight?

Can we now consider this discussion officially dead? Or shall we start a tangent about the ethics of flogging a dead horse?

[Medusa]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

zombie cat says this thread is undead...

[ThePaganMafia]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

Honestly i think we should post our best cat recipes.

[anubisa]

Re: Feral cats. Neuter or kill?

I don't think I could kill any species, unless I had to defend myself. If it was feral kitties, I would say neuter them. I couldn't kill anything. In the PA area they were having trouble with deer getting in the urban population last winter. They didn't know what they were going to do, either shoot them or capture them some how. I think all animals deserve to live. There are always ways to take care of problems with them without hurting them.