Responsible Feral Cat Colony Maintenance

Feral Cat Colony Control
An article by Dan C. Knapp
General Manager, Department of Animal Services
Los Angeles, California

In alleys, parks, and by freeways, near fast food restaurants, on college campuses, and vacant lots. Feral cat colonies are everywhere. Almost as a contradiction, cats are asocial creatures who group together to claim and defend a territory invisible to us, but well defined by them. Created by a combination of abandonment and uncontrolled breeding, these groupings, called colonies, take hold in areas where humans willingly or wantonly provide a ready supply of food. It is surprising that native food sources such as birds, reptiles or insects do not usually determine the location of feral colonies. Instead - and most probably due to their opportunistic nature - cats choose their territory by the availability of scavengable items, such as garbage or food left out by a compassionate human. Consequently, any public area that provides this dining ease is a great place to call home by domestic felines turned wild.

Trapping and Removal

Cats are prolific breeders. One sexually active pair can create a population of fifty or more cats within two or three breeding seasons. Attempting to remove a colony through a trapping program is ineffective. Simply put, trap and removal programs cannot keep up with the feral cat's proclivity toward procreation. Felines have existed forever due to their tenacious ability to survive almost all onslaughts. This is due in part to their wonderful ability to use humans and coexist with us in their own "space." Operating under a set of guidelines understood by their colony, a group of cats will exist in an area and act as gatekeepers to the community. Trapping to remove feral cats may actually result in increasing the number of cats in the colony. Some cats inevitably become trap-wise, and will not be caught. The remaining cats breed and the offspring assist in quickly repopulating the territory. Or, because of abandonment and uncontrolled breeding of nearby domestic cats the weakened or open territory is repopulated. Established colonies tend to have a higher population of females. Cats, while seemingly aloof, do build limited relationships based upon a matriarchal system. Females tend to bond with aunts, nieces, and grandmothers, etc. The females will stay closer to the food source than males. Males will wander beyond the territory and can travel up to five miles away from the food source. Should the colony have existed for some years in one territory and an attempt is made to trap and remove, research has shown that the cats repopulating the territory will be predominantly male. This is significant, in that the higher mix of males will result in a higher breeding rate among both feral and domestic cats. Consequently, trapping and removing an established territory can increase the cat population within a five to ten mile radius of the territory. Recognizing this research, the trapping and removal of a sterilized colony would be irresponsible. Wild cats can be socialized and adopted, but not very easily. Trapping and removal often means killing the cats. To effectively keep an area at a minimum number of feral cats, an aggressive daily trapping regimen would need to be followed. This is neither time nor cost effective.

Controlling Impact

The problem of feral cat overpopulation cannot be controlled through ignoring the problem. In a perfect world, residents would own their cats, all felines would be sterilized, and no animal would ever be abandoned. Yet, not living in a perfect world, efficient and effective solutions must be drafted that minimizes the impact of feral cats.

Cats are opportunistic killers. Given the choice between scavenging or being predators, they will choose to be scavengers - but will continue to kill wildlife. So the question of impact is mute. Cats do have an impact on wildlife. The real question is whether this impact is sustainable. Research has shown that in non-island environments feral cat colony impact on bird life is believed to be sustainable. Where this impact is not sustainable is in areas where endangered wildlife may be present, or on closed environments such as islands. Studies have shown that bird predication by cats is less than their predication of rodents, insects, and reptiles. The premise that bird populations are being threatened to extinction by cats is not well supported. In fact, research shows that habitat loss and encroachment by humans is the primary threat. Raccoons and opossums still remain primary predators of nesting birds. California opossums are considered nonnative animals - an introduced predator - yet wildlife management agencies have not mandated a trap and removal program for these marsupials.

TTVAR-M: By Any Other Name

Allowing cats to guard their territory is preferable and an effective means of protecting an area from overpopulation, if all in the colony are sterilized. Trapping, sterilization, and return to the same location are the basics of feral cat colony control programs. The sterilized cats continue to guard their territory, keeping intact felines from entering and thereby removing the element of romance from the area. The average age of a feral cat is three years. As each passes away, the colony shrinks in size through attrition. So what are all those initials? Whether called TTVAR-M or TNR, feral cat colony control programs have all the same basic elements. A feral cat is trapped, tested for specific feline diseases (e.g., feline leukemia - a fatal condition), vaccinated (including inoculation against rabies) altered, released back at the same location and maintained (cared for daily). Some groups only use the acronym TNR, which stands for trap, neuter, and release. Whatever the initials, feral cat colony control using these methods is an effective and humane means to reduce the population. Yet, for feral cat colony control methods to be successful- and beneficial- caregivers are encouraged to establish and monitor compliance with guidelines that govern all elements of the program from training to colony care.

Benefits of Maintaining Sterilized Colonies

As already mentioned, a TTVAR-M program realizes several benefits:

• Cats are sterilized and guard their territory. For the most part they keep newcomers from entering the territory. Over time, the size of the colony decreases through attrition.

• A stable, consistent level of impact is maintained, allowing the Ecosystem (e.g., bird population) to adapt and adjust.

• Uncontrolled breeding of domestic cats in adjacent neighborhoods is not compounded.

• Volunteers monitor human intervention, keeping the feral colony wild, thus helping to assure limited interaction with humans. These volunteers feed the cats and remove the food-preventing scavenging from wildlife.

• The public health is protected by a supervised feral colony that is inoculated against rabies. Feral cats (inoculated against rabies) serve as a buffer (safety barrier) between wildlife (who may carry rabies) and the neighborhood domestic cat who has the most contact with humans.

Impact of Disallowing Sterilized Colonies

In the control of domestic pets, the solution does not rest in ignoring the problem. By disallowing a sterilization and colony maintenance program, colonies grow unchecked. In removing sterilized cat colonies, a territory is reopened allowing other cats to repopulate the area.

The gender mix would be predominantly male, compounding thedomestic cat overpopulation within contiguous neighborhoods. Killing surplus animals does not diminish the breeding of those still alive. Nor, does an animal control program have a broad base of support when it is based on killing animals. Because of this, trap and kill programs often experience sabotage or are derailed due to lack of support. Volunteer support for the sterilization program of cats in public is significant. It would be very difficult to attempt to enlist the help of volunteers to trap and kill cats. Yet, a network of volunteers, following formalized guidelines (as mentioned previously), are working throughout the nation to reduce the impact of feral cats through a program that effectively reduces their numbers through attrition. These volunteers are not working to increase the numbers of cats, but instead are supporting a population control program through an immense contribution of work-hours and donated goods.

What Works Should Be What Is Working

There are those who oppose feral cat colony control through sterilization and maintenance. Many reasons are proffered; some based in intelligent thought. Yet, no other program has been as effective. Feral Cat Colony maintenance is intensive in labor and cost. If other programs were available, that would have the same if not better results, pet population control organizations would be delighted. In a time of limited resources, there should be great reluctance in declining to implement a working program, in the interest of doing nothing. Control of feral cat colony growth through maintained colonies may be an imperfect solution in an imperfect world, but it works.

This is not necessarily the policy of the Department of Animal Services