Forum: Readers weigh in on feral cat program (April 24)

TNR has been shown to be effective at stabilizing—and even reducing—the number of feral cats in a given area. TNR offers an additional advantage in that “new arrivals� are easily spotted and can then be sterilized.
The “traditional� approach (i.e., trap-and-kill), on the other hand, has proved both costly and ineffective. As Mark Kumpf, former president of the National Animal Control Association, put it in an interview with Animal Sheltering magazine, it’s like “bailing the ocean with a thimble.�
As Las Cruces continues to shape its policy for feral cat management, residents might be interested to know what a “successful� cat eradication program looks like.
On Marion Island (located in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean), it took 19 years to eradicate something like 2,200 cats—using disease (feline distemper), poisoning, intensive hunting and trapping, and dogs. This on an island that’s only 115 square miles in total area, barren, and uninhabited. The cost, I’m sure, was astronomical.
On the sparsely populated, 34-square-mile Ascension Island, located in the south Atlantic, a 2003 eradication effort cost nearly $950,000.
Even setting aside the horrors involved, I don’t imagine Las Cruces residents are interested in using their tax dollars for such an effort.
Nobody is suggesting that TNR is the ideal solution, but in most instances, it’s the best option we’ve got.
Peter J. Wolf
http://www.voxfelina.com

My apologies--special characters didn't work out very well in my original comment...

TNR has been shown to be effective at stabilizing--and even reducing--the number of feral cats in a given area. TNR offers an additional advantage in that "new arrivals" are easily spotted and can then be sterilized.

The "traditional" approach (i.e., trap-and-kill), on the other hand, has proved both costly and ineffective. As Mark Kumpf, former president of the National Animal Control Association, put it in an interview with Animal Sheltering magazine, it's like "bailing the ocean with a thimble."

As Las Cruces continues to shape its policy for feral cat management, residents might be interested to know what a "successful" cat eradication program looks like.

On Marion Island (located in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean), it took 19 years to eradicate something like 2,200 cats--using disease (feline distemper), poisoning, intensive hunting and trapping, and dogs. This on an island that's only 115 square miles in total area, barren, and uninhabited. The cost, I'm sure, was astronomical.

On the sparsely populated, 34-square-mile Ascension Island, located in the south Atlantic, a 2003 eradication effort cost nearly $950,000.

Even setting aside the horrors involved, I don't imagine Las Cruces residents are interested in using their tax dollars for such an effort.

Nobody is suggesting that TNR is the ideal solution, but in most instances, it's the best option we've got.

Peter J. Wolf
http://www.voxfelina.com

Best option--Kill them all!

Half the cats euthanized at the shelter are domesticated animals. If LC is going to allow "cateries" why not with friendly gentle cats instead of wild, vicious feral cats. Can someone explain this to me. Why are we going to kill domesticated cats and neuter and release wild ones?

What about the old man down the street who feeds the feral cats? He leaves food out for them at night and we have skunks all summer long

Wow wrote:

What about the old man down the street who feeds the feral cats? He leaves food out for them at night and we have skunks all summer long

There are traps to put out if you ask the city.

Why does the cat featured as a successful catch and release on the campus not have a clipped ear? How can they keep from rounding up and hauling in the same ones over and over again. A feral cat isn't going to let the capturers look between their legs.

trapper wrote:

<quoted text>
There are traps to put out if you ask the city.
Why does the cat featured as a successful catch and release on the campus not have a clipped ear? How can they keep from rounding up and hauling in the same ones over and over again. A feral cat isn't going to let the capturers look between their legs.

As the Director of the NMSU Feral Cat Management Program, I can assure you that the cat pictured in the article DOES have a clipped ear! It just didn't show up clearly in the picture. All of the cats returned to campus have a clipped ear, as well as a microchip. Additionally, of course, they have been surgically sterilized and have been FIV/FeLV tested, and vaccinated for rabies, FVRCP and FeLV. They are, in fact, much healthier than many peoples' "domestic" companion cats.

Michelle Corella wrote:

<quoted text>
As the Director of the NMSU Feral Cat Management Program, I can assure you that the cat pictured in the article DOES have a clipped ear! It just didn't show up clearly in the picture. All of the cats returned to campus have a clipped ear, as well as a microchip. Additionally, of course, they have been surgically sterilized and have been FIV/FeLV tested, and vaccinated for rabies, FVRCP and FeLV. They are, in fact, much healthier than many peoples' "domestic" companion cats.

great. Thanks for the clarification.

Don't, for even one moment, fall for the song and dance about cat-lovers being animal-lovers, they are anything but that. They don't give one damn about any other animals nor even other humans. Cat-lovers are just like cats, the only thing they care about are themselves. Nobody else and nothing else matters to them.

Their TNR (trap, neuter, release) programs are a dismal failure too. A smokescreen and time & money waster. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Do a search online for the truth about all TNR failures.

Those invasive-species cats that are released will still be decimating the native food-chain for all wildlife. In most areas any larger native predators that could destroy these non-native cats have also been destroyed by man. And if you feed a TNR cat colony they kill even more wildlife. A well-fed cat kills more animals than a starving one. They don't stop killing other animals just because they're no longer hungry. The healthier they are the more they kill. It's what they do, it's what they are. Lousy little killing machines, nothing more.

The problem is just not the loss of bird populations either. Feral cats and neighboring farmers that let theirs roam free have decimated the natural food-chain in my woods. The resident foxes, owls, and other predatory animals no longer had a food source, the feral cats destroyed all the smaller animals that all the larger ones depended on. The native species all starved to death. That's what cats do to ALL native animals.

I found out that where I live it is perfectly legal to defend your own property and animals from destruction by others' animals. I lost count after dispatching the first 20 piece-of-sh!t vermin with a good .22, outfitted with a laser-sight and good zoom rifle-scope. I didn't have to waste even one bullet, making this solution highly economical as well. Just think of how many dollars and hours of your lives that you have spent trapping, transporting, calling, complaining, restoring damaged property, et.al.... and still all the problems that these useless cat-lovers have caused remains. If your aim is good this is even a far more humane method than what animal-humane societies use. Instead of dying an agonizingly slow death by animal-shelter methods, they don't even know they've been shot. This is why it is the preferred method of disposing of feral cats in many states.

It's time to give cats and cat-lovers the same consideration and respect that they have for all other humans and all other wildlife--that means NONE. Don't bother wasting your time arguing with disrespectful, inconsiderate, and ignorant cat-lovers either, as I stupidly tried to do too many times in the past. Just do what needs to be done and there'll be nothing to argue about.

This year owls and foxes have returned to my woods. Through a large effort of my own, including raising and releasing native mice and voles to help repopulate the species that their piece-of-sh!t cats destroyed. Their lousy cats are finally gone. But I'll shoot again on first-sight the first chance I get (and anyone who tries to stop me from doing what needs to be done). The rewards for ridding one's land of ALL cats and restoring the native wildlife population are far too great.

A little insight to help you with your war on cat-lovers and their cats. Maybe if you explain this to them you won't have to use more drastic means.

Human Territorial Behavior By Expendable Proxy

I have come to the inexorable conclusion that the vast majority of cat-lovers and cat-owners that let their destructively invasive-species roam free, and those that defend the rights for feral cats to overtake public property and wildlife areas, are only (cowardly) using cats as a proxy for their own territorial behavior. Not unlike uneducated inner-city youth that will disrespectfully and inconsiderately use a boom-box to stake-out a territory for themselves with loud music. As long as they can have one of their possessions defecate in another's yard and the yard-owner not have any recourse to do anything about it, the cat-owner owns that territory. It's time to put a stop to them using their "cute kitty" excuse for usurping and stealing others' property. If they want territory they can damn well buy it just like anyone else--instead of using their underhanded, disrespectful, and manipulative means, putting (and sacrificing) live animals in the path of their envy and greed. Again proving why they don't care about cats nor anyone else at all. Cat-lovers only really want your lawn, yard, or forest while making all others and all other animals suffer for what they can't have nor own. Bottom line--they want to control you and your property. That's all that "cat-lovers" are really after. It's why they don't care at all if their cat nor any other animals get harmed by their goals and (lack of) values in life.

I live in town and can't shoot them. Any other methods you recommend? My neighbor leaves food and water outside for the cats. They wreck my garden and kill birds in my yard and I'm tired of cleaning up after them.

If you don't live where a firearm can be used here's another humane way to stop all the problems that disrespectful and inconsiderate cat-lovers cause for all, and all wildlife.

Google for: pot mod laser. Obtain blue or green lasers for 5$-$10 from ebay. You can increase their 5mw output to 100mw or more. Filing a hole in the side of the barrel makes it easier to reach the potentiometer than disassembly and risking ruining it. The blue ones seem more powerful than the green ones when pot-modded, lighting a match much more rapidly.

When you see a cat off of an owner's property use the laser on it. Blinding a cat in one eye and they'll lose their depth perception, unable to hunt as effectively. If you blind them in both eyes they'll stay home near their food dish. This is instant and painless. It's even more humane than declawing. Plus the cat owner can still lavish all the attention it wants on the cat, even more now that it's staying home. This method is also anonymous. In daytime nobody will even know it happened or who did it -- for those of you who don't want to confront the inconsiderate cat-lovers. Just treat that laser carefully at all other times so you don't harm the vision of any other life out there.(Google for high-power laser precautions.)

I keep one in my pocket for cats too difficult to shoot cleanly with a .22. I don't like to see any animal suffer. If I can't get a clean shot then they get blinded.

The drastic problems that cat-lovers have created by their blatant disrespect and lack of consideration for their environment, all humans, and all animals requires drastic actions by all those who actually care.

Now that the cat-lovers know this will happen to their cats, maybe they'll keep them indoors where they damn well belong, to prove they actually care. But don't hold your breath for them to do so. See the above post why they do it. They don't even give a damn if they end up owning a blind cat, just so long as it can cause problems for everyone around them. Just do it and be done with it. You can't change the cat-owner. You can only change what their cats can do, one way or the other -- permanently.

Let's call it for what it really is.

Cats pass disease to wildlife, even in remote areas: http://www.labspaces.net/view_news_comments.p...

Dear members of Vox Felina, members of Alley Cat Allies, and any other feral-cat advocates and feral-cat relocation groups,

Here’s something that you really need to read:

biological warfare n.(Abbr. BW) The use of disease-producing microorganisms, toxic biological products, or organic biocides to cause death or injury to humans, animals, or plants.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/biological-warfa...

Given the above information about cats harboring dangerous biological agents that are harmful to wildlife and humans (of which you all were previously aware), as well as the cats themselves being just as harmful if not more-so (this too of which you were all aware), and the information about your TRUE territorial motives (if you weren't aware of it before, you most certainly are now); the fact that you want to infest public and private properties with these harmful biological agents means that EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU CAN AND WILL eventually be held responsible for the crimes that you are committing against all of humanity and all of nature.

May you all rot in prisons as soon as possible.

Something needs to be done...Get rid of them...They're a big problem!!!

Why TNR and Cat Advocates Even Exist ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Be...

It has been found that Toxoplasma gondii parasite is capable of changing the brains of whatever organism it infests. In mice, they lose the fear of cats and are even attracted to cat-urine. Making the asexual portion of the Toxoplasma gondii life-cycle faster to complete in order to replicate more quickly into its sexual reproduction phase in all host cats. This loss of fear and apprehension manifesting itself in humans in a similar manner, even when common-sense tells them they should depend on that sense of fear or doubt for their own survival.

Here are other ways that this parasite have been known to alter the thinking patterns of humans: http://wildlifeprofessional.org/blog/...

I strongly suspect that it might even be responsible for all cat-lovers' wholly contradictory behavior of putting cats, all other animals, and even all humans in harm's-way through their adamant insistence of promoting TNR programs, just to ensure the survival and spread of more Toxoplasma gondii parasites throughout the food-chain and in more humans. They are, in effect, being controlled against all reason and common-sense by the very parasite that is reproducing in their cats.

The stuff that sci-fi used to be made of come to reality. Real-life "pod-people". They can't think nor reason beyond the need of ensuring the survival of Toxoplasma gondii. It won't let them.

If it's illegal worldwide to torture animals using any method (bullfighters seem exempt), then why are cat-owners allowed to torture ALL wildlife with their cats? Cats don't just kill wildlife humanely (like one can kill a feral cat with a well-aimed bullet), cats torture any animal to play with it while it's still alive and twitching with its entrails hanging out. It seems that the longer they can keep an animal alive the more enjoyment that cats get out of it. Shouldn't outdoor-cat owners and all TNR groups be charged with this crime of animal-cruelty, fined heavily, and all of them serving severe jail sentences? There seems to be a drastic double-standard going on. They may not be torturing other animals with baseball-bats or other weapons in their hands, but their cats are just as much a tool of theirs.

Would a dog owner be fined with the crime of animal-cruelty if they continually let their dog attack other animals? Of course, and it's already happened, many times. Fined and convicted. It's in the news often.

This drastic double-standard needs to be corrected. With the fines that all cat-owners and TNR groups would have to pay we'd have the money to clean up this ecological disaster they created. Think of all the new jails that would have to be built to house them all too, all the new jobs. We could turn this ecological disaster into an economic recovery by finally making some use of useless cat-lovers.

I was all set to give you the facts on the feral cat problem in the United States,but Woodsman completely stole my thunder and did it in a very convincing manner.I thank you for your knowledge,passion ,and honesty on this subject.It's a pleasure to stand back and watch someone else carry the flag of common sense and logic.Thanks again.Vaya con Dios mis amigos.

non- resident trapper wrote:

It's a pleasure to stand back and watch someone else carry the flag of common sense and logic.Thanks again.Vaya con Dios mis amigos.

That's how I feel when I see someone else do it.:-)

But I have to question something, if your Nym (name) is an indication of how you are trying to fix the problem.

I've just made a couple of posts elsewhere (the 2 joined here) to TNR-addicts that address this "trapping solution".

Please comment on this, I'd like your feedback, and it may convince you to trade trap for rifle:

It seems to me like the fallacy there is that you can't trap cats faster than they are reproducing. It's a severely losing battle. 150,000,000 feral cats worth of losing battle. Since they outlawed shooting them nearly everywhere for the last 3-4 decades, everyone's been depending on trapping methods. Now there's nearly 1 cat per person in the USA alone if you include the 60,000,000 non-feral cats too (human USA population: 311,000,000). Each household would have to do their civic duty to permanently destroy at LEAST one feral-cat per household of every 2 people in order to start to put a dent in the problem and start to catch up with cats' reproductive rates. They need to be shot on sight instead of relying on slow random-chance methods, hoping that a cat that hasn't yet learned what a trap does, might wander into one one day. What do you do to get all the ones that already learned what a trap is for? Pretend they no longer exist? You TNR-advocates are not only insane, you know absolutely nothing about animal-behavior and you can't even do simple math.

Let's not forget how many non-cat species are also caught in traps. Why terrorize wildlife even more with your traps? Haven't they got enough problems from just your cats destroying all their food, desperately trying to find their next meal? Shooting cats won't cause this problem. I've never mistaken any other species for a cat in all the many many dozens of cats that I've had to destroy on my land. Traps have no judgement call and will trap anything. A reasoning person with a gun will not.

Traps = inefficient random-chance, harassing/harming wildlife, and FAR behind cats' reproductive rates.

Intelligent gun-toting human = able to catch up to cats' reproductive rates and will harm no other animals.

I know this for a FACT, because I alone successfully got rid of *ALL* cats where I live. No other animals were harmed nor even harassed in the process. Now THAT is a feral-cat success story if there ever was one. And it only took two seasons to find and shoot them all. How long have trappers been at it now? 150,000,000 feral-cats later. My woods and land have never been so full of wildlife and bird-songs before. Worth every bullet, and then some.

btw: NONE of the cats I shot were spayed nor neutered. I checked each one before disposing of their carcasses. Because those releasing them claimed they were all fixed. More cat-lover-lies. This is why I know that even one person can out-shoot their reproductive rates.

Food (or a whole meal) for thought.

I trap then SSS.Feral cats are a diseased plague on many forms of wildlife.They even host a parasite which is killing endangered sea otters in California.They are pests.