03-20-2009, 06:44 PM
I have already expressed my views on feral cats and TNR programs on the Feral Animals thread in the Farming and Gardening forums. In short, there are two possible conditions. First is that the neutered cat colony cats are the majority of the cats in the environment. If so, removal of the animals from the environment would result in a useful reduction in predation. In other words, killing them would work.
The other possibility is that the cat colony cats make up only a small percentage of the cats in the environment. Killing these cats would not make a difference. Leaving them (sterilized) in place to die from attrition would make even less of a difference. By definition, these relatively pampered favorite cats are excluding, rejecting, out-competing, and beating up on the majority of feral cats whose numbers are then held in check by a host of nasty symptoms of being on the losing end of a fight for their lives against better fed adversaries. This must necessarily be the intent of the those who advocate TNR programs, for they are the very ones who argue that feral cats are too numerous for removal to make any headway. Too numerous to remove? Too numerous to care for.
I love cats. They have a kind of sensual lethality about them that people like to identify with. My brother's family has had cats for years. One got hit by a car. The next one drank antifreeze and spent a few hours in agony before I had him put down. Now they have indoor cats.
The other possibility is that the cat colony cats make up only a small percentage of the cats in the environment. Killing these cats would not make a difference. Leaving them (sterilized) in place to die from attrition would make even less of a difference. By definition, these relatively pampered favorite cats are excluding, rejecting, out-competing, and beating up on the majority of feral cats whose numbers are then held in check by a host of nasty symptoms of being on the losing end of a fight for their lives against better fed adversaries. This must necessarily be the intent of the those who advocate TNR programs, for they are the very ones who argue that feral cats are too numerous for removal to make any headway. Too numerous to remove? Too numerous to care for.
I love cats. They have a kind of sensual lethality about them that people like to identify with. My brother's family has had cats for years. One got hit by a car. The next one drank antifreeze and spent a few hours in agony before I had him put down. Now they have indoor cats.