Claims made by trap-neuter-release (TNR) volunteers are not always true but TNR is effective and humane

TNR volunteer. Great people as far as I am concerned. Image in public domain.

There is a study online dated 2009 (Critical Assessment of Claims Regarding Management of Feral Cats by Trap–Neuter–Return) so it's quite old. I can't read the entire study but I can read the summary which states that the claims that TNR volunteers make are all untrue. These are some of them:

• Feral cats only harm wildlife on islands and not on continents
• Feral cats fill a natural niche and don't contribute to the decline of native species
• Feral cats don't spread disease or they don't act as a reservoir for disease
• TNR eventually reduces the number of feral cats to zero
• TNR managed feral cat colonies "resist invasion by other cats".

Harming wildlife

We know that feral cats harm wildlife. It is common sense. They need to eat and in order to eat they need to kill small mammals, marsupials, insects, birds and reptiles. It depends where they live but there is quite a lot of killing. People who dislike feral cats - and there are many scientists who dislike feral cats - exaggerate the amount of killing by this type of cat. 

They take small sample sizes and work out how many animals the cats kill and then they extrapolate that figure and argue that an entire nation of feral cats kill so many billions of animals. This is liable to produce inaccuracies. 

We can't rely on the numbers disseminated by experts as published in studies on websites such as Google Scholar. We certainly can't rely on the numbers stated by Australian conservationists when arguing that they should exterminate all feral cats on that continent.

But feral cats certainly do not only kill small animals on islands. The reference to islands is there because it is known that on several notorious occasions it is argued that feral cats have made extinct certain small species on islands because those animals had nowhere to escape to. The feral cat dominated the island as a top predator and wiped-out small animal species.

Don't contribute to the decline of native species

This is a big argument. I remember, years ago, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds saying that there was no evidence at that time (about 12 years ago) that feral cats endangered the survival of a species of bird. Yes, feral cats killed birds but not in sufficient numbers to put a particular bird species on the brink of extinction. And I should add that a lot of the birds that feral cats eat are old, dying or dead birds.

It may interest you to think about dead birds. How many dead birds do you see? When you walk in the park or anywhere else, you never see dead birds do you? And yet millions and millions of birds are dying every day. That's because while animals like foxes and feral cats are eating them.

In short, there is no hard evidence as yet that feral cats, preying on birds, jeopardises the survival of a species. And the same applies to any other animal species. Except, as mentioned about island wildlife where there are differences.

I don't want to defend the feral cat unjustifiably. They do kill a lot of animals and this is of great concern to conservationists. But my argument has consistently been that humans kill a lot more animals than feral cats and are doing so as I dictate this because global warming, an indirect consequence of human behaviour, is killing millions of animals every day. 

An example of that would be the massive floods in Australia coupled with the massive wildfires on that continent. It is said that the latter killed over a billion animals often small mammals, marsupials and reptiles, the kind of prey killed by feral cats. That's the point I'm making.

To global warming you can add herbicides and insecticides used by humans in intensive farming which kills many animals. You can add tall buildings and windfarms which kill many birds. All human commercial activity kills animals because it might lead to deforestation for example. There are numerous ways that humans indirectly kill billions of animals. Humankind should stop being hypocritical about wildlife conservation and look to themselves first is the primary destroyer of nature.

Feral cats don't spread disease

Often you hear spokespersons for local authorities saying that feral cats have to be eliminated because they have a negative impact upon the health of residents. There is no hard evidence to prove this. None whatsoever. I've never seen it. If you can refer to an example then please comment. There is exaggeration about feral cats acting as reservoirs of diseases.

It is notable that the Covid-19 pandemic was caused by humans misbehaving in killing wild animals in a wet market in China in an unregulated way. Nothing to do with feral cats. Or the pandemic was caused by the escape of pathogens from a bio lab in Wuhan, China. Once again, a human-created massive problem. Let's look to humans for the cause of the spread of disease first before we criticise the feral cat which is the victim of human carelessness.

TNR reduces a colony of feral cats to zero

If a volunteer says that TNR reduces a feral cat colony to a population of zero, they are wrong. It might happen from time to time but in general TNR doesn't produce a zero population. It stabilises the population and it means that the cats are looked after to a certain extent and therefore it is a humane practice. Sometimes people dump cats and they add to the colony. Numbers are often significantly reduced and the resulting colony size is manageable.

The volunteers are happy in caring for the cats and the residents of the area are usually happy that the feral cats are being managed. Sometimes people argue with volunteers and they hate TNR volunteers and there can be some nasty altercations but by and large the management of feral cat colonies works out well.

Resisting invasion by other cats

I don't think that this is correct. If TNR volunteers are saying that their work helps to resist the invasion of the colony by other cats it is wrong to say that in my opinion. As mentioned above sometimes people see a feral cat colony as an opportunity to get rid of their cat because they know that somebody else will look after him or her. That's immoral and it doesn't help the TNR volunteers.

One last point, if you kill all the feral cats rather than look after them and neuter them, you end up with this well-known condition where you create a vacuum and other feral cats come into that vacuum. Killing feral cats is arguably less effective than gradually reducing their numbers through TNR programs. #

The problem for a lot of authorities is that the processes too gradual. Politicians need to see instant results to satisfy the electorate. That is one reason why the authorities criticise TNR programs sometimes. More enlightened local authorities support TNR programs and praise the work of these wonderful volunteers.

TNR is not perfect but it makes a lot of feral cats healthy and happy!

Trap-neuter-release (TNR) is, as I am sure you are aware, a very common method for helping feral cats to live decent lives. It helps to prevent the procreation of more feral cats and the procedure includes vaccinating the cats and checking their health. They are cared for by happy volunteers, usually women, who get to know their cats and love them. The whole process is positive.

TNR volunteers do wonderful work and they should be praised as society has an obligation to care for feral cats because they shouldn't be there. This picture is in the public domain.

Detractors

Detractors of TNR say that it simply puts feral cats back into the urban environment. Detractors want the cats removed and euthanised or killed in any way possible. They want this because they want to protect native species and wildlife generally as the cats prey upon them. And they want rid of the cats because they think they present a health hazard to people. They don't but that's the perception by detractors.

And detractors also state that TNR will not solve the feral cat problem. That's because TNR takes too long and it is not practised widely enough to have a huge impact upon the feral cat population.

Benefits

But there are some wonderful benefits. Firstly, TNR stabilises the population of a feral cat colony. So, in a certain area it does improve the environment for local residents. The residents can know that the feral cats are being cared for and that their numbers are being stabilised. In fact, eventually, if TNR is practised on a feral cat colony for long enough the numbers can be reduced to zero. Although, what often happens, is that more human carelessness produces more unwanted cats who become feral cats and they then end up joining the colony managed by TNR volunteers. It is the good guys, the TNR volunteers, mopping up the mess made by the bad guys, the careless cat owners. Or bad people dump their domestic cats at feral cat colonies. Horrible behavior.

In addition, many residents who are not volunteers will still be pleased that the cats are being cared for. TNR improves the general ambience of an environment where there are feral cats.

So, there are great advantages to local residents. And the advantages of course extend to the cats. The charity Best Friends tells us that "TNR ensures the cats' health and welfare. Once these cats are sterilised and vaccinated, they can live healthy, happy lives in their communities, where caring residents look after them."

Promoting misconceptions

A lot of people promote the idea - and I will have to include PETA in this group - that feral cats live miserable, short lives and are inevitably badly diseased. This simply isn't true. Of course, feral cats are more likely to pick up a disease similar to those picked up by domestic cats and when they are not cared for, they are going to die of those diseases sometimes.

But under TNR programs many feral cats live lives as good as those enjoyed by domestic cats. The volunteers provide winter shelter for them and they are of course fed regularly. If society is careless enough to allow feral cats to exist which is what happens then society has an obligation to care for those cats. On a moral level TNR works. In fact, TNR is essential if humankind is to behave ethically towards feral cats which are a symptom of careless domestic cat ownership.

There should be no detractors of TNR. It is something that society has to do. It is not done enough but the volunteers who do participate in these TNR programs need all the praise that they can get because they deserve a huge pat on the back for the work they do. They do it almost silently in the background. They are often unnoticed.

Attacks

Sometimes ugly people attack them and there have even been fatal outcomes of altercations between TNR volunteers and an unpleasant resident who doesn't want them there. That's because feral cats provoke a lot of polarised arguments. A lot of people hate them but I have to state that these are ignorant people who don't look deeper into the issue. To be clear, people have an obligation to care for feral cats.

Police

Remarkably, in America, sometimes the police get involved and they stop TNR volunteers from carrying out their duties. This happened on public land not too long ago. A couple of old ladies were even prosecuted for aggravated trespass. The story was extraordinary. Eventually the old ladies got off because the whole process was ridiculous. But the police facilitated it to their ignorance. Often the police struggled to behave properly in respect of feral dogs and feral cats. To me dogs, for instance, are shot by the police in America for no reason at all other than perhaps that the police are frightened of dogs.

TNR helps these cats live decent lives. Let's be thankful to the volunteers who make this happen.

Phoenix Day School for the Deaf have a feral cat problem and they are dealing with it properly

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a good cat new story in my book. It's straightforward and the outcome is going to be good. And that is because the people who are dealing with the problem are sensible and enlightened.

Feral cat near the school. Photo: 3TV/CBS 5.

In the past several months a feral cat problem has developed at Phoenix Day School for the Deaf. A colony has emerged at the school which has been supported by local residents who been feeding them next to the fence that borders the school. Because of this they been roaming onto the campus at 19th Avenue between Hayward and Morton Avenue.

The problem for Maria Murphy at the school is that they sometimes defecate on the campus. She says they bury it but it's not something they want for obvious reasons on campus.

The good news element of this story is that they decided to work together and employ TNR practices to control the colony. In addition, they are giving instructions to feed the cats for a set period of time daily. They've TNRed 17 already.

Felicity Short has set up a fundraising page to purchase traps and to set up veterinary appointments to get the cat spayed and neutered.

There are useful spin-offs for this kind of activity. You get people together. They work together. They meet each other. You have a community spirit. And you work with the cats to make their lives better but you stop them procreating. It's good for people to do something good for animal welfare. It's good for the collective consciousness.

A lot of people denigrate TNR. These are the anti-feral cat brigade. They want to eliminate them but TNR is so much better when carried out properly. There shouldn't be a discussion about it. Humans put the cats there because of their carelessness and therefore they have a duty to treat them humanely and with decency. It is humankind's mess to clear up.

Cassidy Porter-Whistman, founder of Barn House Rescue AZ hints at the fact that it should be a community effort when she said:

"It takes a village when you have a colony this size and they problem this size, it takes a little bit of a different approach."

They are teaming up with Felicity Short to run a TNR program. And they're going to educate the feeders to maintain the colony but not allow it to grow. The problem with feeding feral cats is that you create a food source. Colonies form around a food source. Also, you attract wildlife. Therefore it needs to be done in a controlled way. This, I think, is what they are alluding to when they say that they are going to educate feeders.

Porter-Whistman said that feral cat feeders tend to over-feed. She advises not to free feed but to feed at a specific time of day I presume in a controlled manner.

She is going to attend the location to educate the area about TNR. 😊 I like that.

She said:

We actually go out and try to educate the entire neighborhood, ask them who's feeding, if anyone's feeding, tell them about the project and then we trap every single night for three to five days until no cats come back to the feeding station. Unless we can stabilize those colonies one colony at a time in that targeted way, we literally would do this for the rest of our lives and never catch up to how many cats there are. They outnumber us, significantly."

A resident makes a good point which is that the cats do serve a purpose in keeping down the rodent population. She said: "You see the same cats around, there are no new cats obviously and it's all about balance because you do need some of them around--I mean, I don't see any mice or rats or other annoying things."

Plattsburgh man commits a crime for looking after feral cats

COMMENT: I think that the Plattsburgh city council have got this entirely wrong. Plattsburgh is in New York state as I recall. They have a local ordinance which states that if you feed cats on your property you are deemed to own those cats. But that seems irrelevant in this instance! That's because the guy was feeding feral cats under a TNR program on, I guess, public property. I'm also told that the city code states that feeding feral cats is a violation level offence whatever that means. Perhaps he was feeding them on his property but we are not told that.

 Plattsburgh man commits a crime for looking after feral cats. Pic in public domain. Sorry for the poor image quality.

The upshot is that this guy, Mike Clowney, has been told to appear before the local court because he's been feeding feral cats as part of a TNR program. He's been doing it for more than a decade. He attends the cats twice a day every day. He is a dedicated volunteer providing a good service to the community I would argue.

He said that they would have to put him in prison if they want to stop him helping the feral cats within his community.

As reported on Yahoo News the picture is highly unclear. The reporting is bad in my opinion because I just don't know what law is applicable in this instance. Under what law is this man being charged with a crime? I would doubt that there is any law applicable in Plattsburgh which gives the city the authority to punish this man for helping out in a TNR program. I would expect the case to be dropped for that reason. This appears to be a mistake by the authorities.

He wasn't arrested but has been asked to attend court as mentioned. Apparently, his violation of the local ordinance comes under the Pigeons and Other Wild Animals section of the City Code. Other volunteers engaged in TNR programs are worried that the language of the ordinance is going to affect them. They think that it may deem them to be owners of the feral cats that they look after.

The law was not intended to impinge upon the activities of TNR programs. It's a ridiculous mistake and I'm sure adjustments will be made. Mike Clowney said that TNR programs really work and that this local law might slow TNR work. He said that it will discourage people from helping. He is not discouraged however. But other people will be. He spent years finding new homes for feral kittens. He's doing council work! He's contributing to the amenity of the community in which he lives. To punish him for that is mindless.