Spay/Neuter

[Hunt Stoddard]

Hui Pono Holoholona is an extraordinarily dedicated group of volunteers who have been helping me spay/neuter stray cats in my area. I personally think this is something that should be much more heavily funded by the county than it is. Thing is, it wouldn't take all that much to diminish the problem down to a negligible level. It's actually a problem where the more money you throw at it, the less it requires. How many things can you say that about?

Donate a few bucks if you can manage it:

http://www.hphhawaii.org/

[Kapohocat]

Thanks for posting that!

The TNR program really does shrink the population! Especially if the cat was the "alpha-cat" in the colony. I believe HPH doesnt release any cats back that have feline leukemia.

Wonder if it would work with coquis? []

[MarkP]

Debating this controversial topic is pretty much an exercise in futility but here goes. In all of my internet research I have read countless time how TNR has been shown to reduce feral cat numbers. I have never found data that supports this. Furthermore some of the arguments in favor of TNR are in and of themselves illogical and contradictory. One of the fundamental tenets is that there are too many cats out there to make removal profitable (the so-called vacuum effect) such that if you remove a cat its place will only be taken by another cat resulting in no progress, while the original cat, if maintained in place, will "keep the other cats out". I could debate some of the nastier implications of this such as how TNR advocates are clearly cheering their favored, subsidized cat gladiators on in this fight to the death but I think it is enough to point out that basing the whole argument on the premise that there is a hopelessly large number of cats out there blows the original premise out of the water. Doesn't matter whether you kill 'em slow through attrition or kill 'em fast through euthanasia, until the death rate and the birth rate are brought together you are just p-----g into the wind. On the face of it TNR purports to reduce the birth rate so as a concept it is good but in practice it is fatally flawed. As long as you hang on to the concept that there are so many cats out there that a rapid removal process like euthanasia can't work, the much more gradual process of TNR is not worth wasting breath on.

Do I really think that TNR advocates knowingly cheer on the deadly competition on which the concept is based? Of course not. I don't think they know what they are talking about and because of that a huge amount of trust and credibility has been lost. How can you say "The poor kitties will starve unless I feed them" and "Don't worry. These poor kitties will fight off those other (apparently not so poor and deserving) kitties" in the same breath and expect to be taken seriously? Each time I hear such discredited arguments in favor of TNR repeated I am further alienated from the TNR camp.

I see no point in fantasizing about how things would be in a perfect world. In this world I think that every effort should be made to remove feral cats from the environment just as every effort is made to remove rats. If you want to acknowledge the artificial difference between cats as companion animals and rats as pure vermin then all the efforts currently going into feeding cats in the wild should go instead to caring for those cats after they are caught and removed. If there are people that concerned over their welfare they must take on full ownership of the cats then and there. You feed it, you own it, vet bills and all. If such people choose not to own a hundred cats they need to take on full responsibility for transferring full ownership to someone else. All of this must happen after the cats are removed from the environment. I actually admire the dedication of some TNR advocates and I am in fact acquainted with some ladies on Lanai who run a shelter, but my admiration and tolerance stops when such advocacy turns into a type of guerrilla war against the rest of society. In the case of the folks on Lanai their shelter is fenced in. As far as I know when the cats come in they don't leave until they are adopted.

I can not endorse any program where the animals are left in place.

[Carey]

Mark, I do agree with you, but also cannot see the argument that some have used that removal of a certain population of TNR cats, say at the dump, will increase the survival of birds that are within 17,000 acres of the dump.... u

Untill you get it through every single persons' head to spay/neuter or totally control every single pet (or working domestic animal) and not dump the unwanted animals off in the woods, on the road, or at the dump, there will ALWAYS be populations of these animals....and the native animals on this island will continue to lose the competition...

So there is an unfortunate truth, the native animals will lose, hundreds of thousands of unchecked domestics will lose & knuckle headed people will still allow their animals to breed indiscriminately... & then dump the excess....

[ourdoc]

"I can not endorse any program where the animals are left in place." ----- I could say the same about Republicans.

But your information is flawed. I have a feeling my neighbor, a retired Veterinarian who is still doing TNR, knows a little bit more about the subject than you do seeing as how he has been doing it for over 50 years. He HAS seen results in several areas he has lived and worked in including Puna, so have many organizations across the nation. In fact EVERY study done since 1991 shows that TNR is much more effective than Trap and Kill, the old method.

Just a few that agree with TNR:
Zaunbrecher, K., Smith, R., "Neutering of Feral Cats as an Alternative to Eradication Programs". Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA), Vol.203, No.3, August 1, 1993:449-452.
Jochle, W., Jochle, M., "Reproduction in a feral cat population and its control with a prolactin inhibitor." 2nd International Symposium on Canine and Feline Reproduction, Belgium.
Pedersen, N., Feline Husbandry. American Veterinary Publications, 1991:3-12.
Berkeley, E.P., Maverick Cats. New England Press, 1982.
Handy, F.L., "Measuring your community's pet population, owner attitudes." Shelter Sense, Vol.16, No.5, May 1993:3-12.
Mosier, J.E., Williams, L.W., Nassar, R., "Study of feline and canine populations in the Greater Las Vegas Area." Am. J. Vet. Res., Vol.45, No.2, 1984:282-7.
Lewellen, L., Lewellen, J., "National Pet Alliance's Survey Report on Santa Clara County's Pet Population." The CFA Almanac, Jan. 1994.
Johnson, Karen, National Pet Alliance
Zaunbrecher, K.
Holton, L., Manzoor, P., "Managing and Controlling Feral Cat Populations". Veterinary Forum, March 1993.
Clifton Merritt, Editor, Animal People on AOL, Dec. 1, 1994, Pet Care-Animals and Society Board.

[MarkP]

I have an equally great feel that he does not. With so much supporting evidence there should be no reason to ask me to believe that 2+2=5. Meanwhile the hordes of people stridently insisting that it does drive me further and further away. Many people see the results that they want to see. The fact that your friend has been seeing something that isn't there for 50 years does not impress me. Sadly it does not surprise me either. Neither does the fact that there are more feral cats than ever. I posted previously that if crazy cat ladies (and men) can exist with enough frequency to become the cliche that they are it says something about the human ability to either not see things as they are or to see things that aren't there. As for TNR being more effective than trap and kill, we have rarely tried trap and kill with anything like the will that would be required to get results. We should, but we have not. In those rare instances where an island has been successfully cleared of cats a wide range of lethal methods has had to be employed. No one who had to be truly responsible for results would bother with TNR. It can exist without being exposed as a failure because of the huge smoke screen of emotion that is stirred up by its proponents, that would be laughable if we were talking about rats.

[hikatz]

Thank you Hunt for posting about the group,
Advocats in Kona has been very successful with their TNR program. It was fantastic that Frannie started the TNR for East Hawaii, knowing it would not have the type of money and support that Kona has. Hui Pono Holoholona group has done a great job, has not been easy when there is so much negative out there.
For animal lovers who are trying to end this cycle of abandoned/throw away pets, is to just keep on doing what we are doing. Even though there is so much evidence showing that TNR works, it will never be enough to convince people, who think cats are a parasite and should be destroyed.
TOTAL WASTE OF TIME trying to change a closed mind on this subject, don't even bother trying. It is up to us to keep posting info: on the ongoing programs and not to get drawn into a no-win discussion, all that does is to continue to add fuel to the fire.
I do not belong to either group, but I support them in what they are trying to do.
There are many of of us in Hawaii, that work independently in critter rescues. Spay and neuter is essential.

[MarkP]

http://www.shelterandrescue.org/2005/01/...fixed.html

I don't know who these folks are and how well their info stands up to scrutiny. For the time being lets assume that what they say is true and that there is no noticeable effect unless you sterilize 70% of the population. If you believe that it is better to leave the TNR cats out there because there are other non-TNR cats waiting in the wings, then you could sterilize 100% of the cats coming to your feeding site and it would not be enough to make a noticeable difference, again, because of all the non-TNR colony cats that are supposedly being kept at bay by the TNR colony cats. Plus, in reality you are never gonna catch 100% of the colony cats so the odds are even worse.

Some interesting points that they make. Use limited resources to achieve the needed 70% in small areas. This means make no effort in other areas. I say this is the same as trapping cats in your area and dumping them elsewhere. The demographics will be indistinguishable.

[Hunt Stoddard]

From what I've heard, the kill rate at the Humane Society is going down, so there's reason to hope that the spay/neuter programs are working. How you approach this problem depends a lot on your own personal moral calculus. In the long run, would eliminating the feral cat population in a direct and fairly brutal manner spare more suffering than gradually bringing the population under control? That's a question you have to decide for yourself. The fact is, feral cats bear scores of kittens who probably suffer immensely, as do bird populations, etc. I certainly don't have all the answers, but it's better to do something than nothing.

As for taking care of the cats you T and R, that is often not practical unless you want to incarcerate the cat for life. They are often wild and will roam even after spay/neuter. I do have one cat that was neutered about two years ago that I consider "mine," who allows me to stroke him when fed, etc. But that's kind of a rare exception.

I don't disallow strays from eating from a common dish on my lanai, knowing that there's then the risk of exposing my own cats to fights, viruses, etc. It's all kind of a trade-off. Like I say, I don't have all the answers. One thing I do feel strongly about is that the full weight of the problem should not be made to rest on groups of underfunded and generally beleaguered volunteers. Society as a whole should decide on the best method to handle this problem, and it should be adequately funded and, if possible, solved.

[pahoated]

Even if a feral cat is spayed and neutered, and released, it is going to keep killing birds the rest of its life. It would be nice if cats just went after rats but cats are lazy and birds and eggs are easier than fighting a rat plus birds and eggs probably taste better to it than a rat. A cat living for another 5 years, even spayed and neutered, is going to be killing a lot of birds, a lot more than if it was dead.

The invasive birds like magpie, cardinals, spotted doves have the survival skills to avoid cats. Native Hawaiian birds lost all their defense mechanisms with no predators and the change has been too quick for them to develop the defense. Cats are hardly endangered species. There are over 300 Hawaiian bird species that are on the verge of extinction. In war, it has to be decided who lives and who dies. This is a war for the survival of Hawaii. Thanks to DLNR, Hawaii is gradually winning the war, not only restoring but recovering entire ecosystems. There is nowhere on this planet that this level of ecosystem restoration is achieving the success DLNR is achieving.

The real question is why is Hawaii allowing mainland transplants to keep bringing their cats? If people want a cat for a pet, capture a feral one, spay and neuter it, then keep it in a cage. That is the responsible, Hawaii-friendly thing to do. The problem here is irresponsible mainland transplants.

"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"