11-29-2006, 03:21 AM
Mella, The Tribune-Herald had an article earlier this year on the cats at one of the Bayfront Hotels, may have been UB. The resort has made a special effort to trap, neuter, release & maintain a population of cats. This was mainly because of a few concerns:
The sickly ferals that had been around the resort were a guest turn-off.
Trapping & removing ferals from the resort property seemed to have no effect on the # of ferals, more just filled the space of those removed.
The "resort cats" offer the employees & guests with a positive experience, employees even volunteered food & cat duties.
I am a lover of all animals. I do see the starving sickly ferals all over. They are at the tranfer stations & dump, the university, behind the stores at the mall & downtown, at our bayfront cleanups. These cats can also fall prey to some horrible treatment.
It would be wonderful if there was one solution to this problem. On a few reserve islands, all feral animals of all species have been removed. There is a big difference in the biota on these islands. There is no way to do this on most islands.
I have also been out away from human developement & seen feral cats & some of the effects. Feral cats do eat endangered turtle eggs. I have seen nests dug up by cat paws (this was out in VNP, far from any domestic cats). They do kill & eat birds.
The fact is that any animal that was not here for 100's of thousands of years will impact and change this environment. This island chain is the extinction capital of the world, and in the U.S., with California as the mainland U.S. extinction capital. The important fact is everyone must make efforts to reduce the impact we make on these islands.
Aloha, Carey
Edited by - Carey on 11/29/2006 07:26:12
The sickly ferals that had been around the resort were a guest turn-off.
Trapping & removing ferals from the resort property seemed to have no effect on the # of ferals, more just filled the space of those removed.
The "resort cats" offer the employees & guests with a positive experience, employees even volunteered food & cat duties.
I am a lover of all animals. I do see the starving sickly ferals all over. They are at the tranfer stations & dump, the university, behind the stores at the mall & downtown, at our bayfront cleanups. These cats can also fall prey to some horrible treatment.
It would be wonderful if there was one solution to this problem. On a few reserve islands, all feral animals of all species have been removed. There is a big difference in the biota on these islands. There is no way to do this on most islands.
I have also been out away from human developement & seen feral cats & some of the effects. Feral cats do eat endangered turtle eggs. I have seen nests dug up by cat paws (this was out in VNP, far from any domestic cats). They do kill & eat birds.
The fact is that any animal that was not here for 100's of thousands of years will impact and change this environment. This island chain is the extinction capital of the world, and in the U.S., with California as the mainland U.S. extinction capital. The important fact is everyone must make efforts to reduce the impact we make on these islands.
Aloha, Carey
Edited by - Carey on 11/29/2006 07:26:12