Feral Cats

A feral cat from one of my adventures at a cat colony

There is a growing problem in the United States: that is the feral cat population. Feral cats are born into the wild and form colonies to survive. They are usually too difficult to domesticate, but nonetheless should be cared for. Most live very short lives due to disease and other predators. This situation is getting worse; it is estimated there are 70 million feral cats living in the U.S. You might think, "I've never seen them", but I guarantee you will find them if you look. These colonies do very well at hiding from human contact, as their instincts tell them to. These cats spread quickly because they are not spayed/neutered. This is where the question comes in, what should we do to prevent these colonies from growing? It is impossible to trap them and take them to a shelter, for many reasons. One is that they are undomesticated and will most likely be euthanized in shelters for being "unadoptable". Another reason is that animal control is more trained on capturing dogs and less on cats since it is much more difficult to capture cats. Some answer this question by claiming it would be easier just to kill them all and the population would go down. Here is how the humane society explains why that won't work:

"Some people feel sorry for feral cats because of their difficult and dangerous life. Others are annoyed by the cats' behaviors and want the cats removed. But many people don't feel that the cats should be euthanized. Even if there were enough people and money to remove and euthanize feral cats, other feral cats would move into the vacant territory to take advantage of the food source and shelter now made available. It's an endless cycle."

More pictures of mine of feral cats

Not only is euthanasia not a solution, a lot of people see it as unethical and costly. Why put them down when there is a proven, more effective strategy? More about It In the next post!

Sources:National Geographic
Humane Society