Controlling Feral Cat Colonies
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Feral cats … now there’s a topic that is guaranteed to raise a few hackles. In an attempt to promote common ground between all the different points of view about how, or how not to manage feral cat colonies, I want to share the results of a study published in the August 15, 2013 issue of theJournal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA).
The researchers used computer modeling to predict the effects of three different management techniques, Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR), Trap-Vasectomy/Hysterectomy-Release (TVHR), and lethal control (LC). Here’s a summary of what they found:
Management of feral cat colonies by TVHR has not been suggested previously and may be more effective at decreasing population size because cats retain reproductive hormones and normal social behavior is maintained. Vasectomy does not alter a male cat’s sexual drive or social status, so cats maintain their position in the breeding hierarchy, may better prevent immigration of intruding males into the colony, compete for females as before surgery, and continue to copulate but in an unproductive fashion. Coitus initiates a prolonged, nonreceptive 45-day pseudopregnancy period in females, thereby reducing the chance of a fertile mating. After TVHR, female cats continue to attract males and compete with sexually intact females for male courting and breeding time.
Unless > 57% of cats were captured and neutered annually by TNR or removed by lethal control, there was minimal effect on population size. In contrast, with an annual capture rate of ≥ 35%, TVHR caused population size to decrease. An annual capture rate of 57% eliminated the modeled population in 4,000 days by use of TVHR, whereas > 82% was required for both TNR and lethal control. When the effect of fraction of adult cats neutered on kitten and young juvenile survival rate was included in the analysis, TNR performed progressively worse and could be counterproductive, such that population size increased, compared with no intervention at all. [The paper mentions that only 12-33% of kittens in hormonally intact feral cat colonies survive to 6 months of age, but that rate increases when TNR is instituted, probably because of an increased tolerance of neutered cats.]
So, if TNR and LC are often ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst, it sure seems like giving TVHR a try makes sense. The obvious next step would be to try a instituting a TVHR program and monitoring its success (ideally in comparison to a TNR control). Most veterinarians have probably never performed a vasectomy or hysterectomy on a cat, but I’d bet the procedures wouldn’t be too difficult to learn.
The JAVMA article also provides a lot of evidence that supports the need to do something about feral cat colonies. Leaving the animals to fend for themselves is inhumane. The authors refer to a PhD thesis that revealed that in a feral cat colony that was part of a TNR program, the median survival time for intact adult males was only 267 days (less than a year!) and for intact adult females it was just 593 days. Interestingly, the median survival time for neutered males and females was much longer (>730 days), which on the surface looks like a good thing, but this increased survivability is part of the reason why TNR programs often fail to reduce the size of the population over the long run.
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“Cats are a man-made (through selective breeding) invasive species”…
Uh?
Cats are cats as dogs are dogs. Dogs originate from Wolves – even little dogs like Chihauhaus (how the hell DO you spell that?) originate from Wolves.
Domestic cats originate from BIG cats such as Lions and Tigers and Cheetah’s etc et al.
Whatever role ‘man’ played in their evolution is pretty irrelevant. Cats will always be cats regardless of our existence.
We, humanity, don’t control ‘nature’ we just think we do.
Actually I like you Woody. I disagree with you wholeheartedly but you say what you think and stand by it. RESPECT mate.
At least I can hold an in depth argument/discussion with you and, given humanity’s usual bullshit, personally, I can live with that cheerfully.
My profuse apologies for calling you a prick. You aren’t. My love of cats led me astray in saying that. Sorry man.
You’re still wrong mind you….;-)
“At least I can hold an in depth argument/discussion with you and, given humanity’s usual bullshit, personally, I can live with that cheerfully.”
Considering your knowledge of nature, genetics, evolution, biology, ecology, and speciation is beneath the level of even a 4rd-grade elementary school student — you couldn’t hold an “in depth argument” with even a flatworm’s rudimentary nervous system. See, that’s the problem with imbeciles and morons. And the very reason the word “moron” had to even be invented — someone who is too stupid to even realize they are stupid.
I warned everyone that this would happen when they made net-access and computers “idiot friendly” — then the rest of the world would have to deal with them forever more instead of keeping them silent where they belonged all along. The internet was so nice before that happened. Chalk-up another one for the greedy corporate “base common denominator” mindset destroying something that was once just and good.
Norman, sorry, you are so wrong. Dogs may be descended from wolves, but domestic cats are not descended from Lions, tigers, and cheetahs. They may share a common ancestor, but the domesticated cats comes from a direct line of descent from the African wild cat (Felis silvestris lybica.
They are cross fertile with them with zero hybrid infertility, just as dogs are fertile with wolves with zero hybrid infertility. Domestic cat species that are crosses with certain other wild cats (several for example) are very difficult to breed and result for 4 generations with male infertility.
You cannot ever cross breed a domestic cat with a lion or tiger or cheetah. They are completely incompatible.
I may not agree with Woodsman 100%, but I cannot let that piece of fail information pass.
You might also enjoy knowing …
If you advocate for cats as rodent-control on farms and ranches you’ve already doomed them to being destroyed by drowning or shooting when it becomes a financial liability more than any asset. Ranchers and farmers worldwide are fully aware that cats’ Toxoplasma gondii parasite can cause the very same birth defects (hydrocephaly and microcephaly), still-births, and miscarriages in their livestock and important wildlife as it can in pregnant women. Consequently, this is also how this cats’ brain-parasite gets into your meats and onto your dinner-tables, from herbivores ingesting this cat-parasites’ oocysts in the soils, transferred to the plants and grains that they eat. Not even washing your hands in bleach will destroy this parasites’ oocysts if you have contracted it from your garden or yard that a cat has defecated in.
This is why any cats are ROUTINELY destroyed around gestating livestock and wildlife management areas in the most efficient, humane, and least expensive method available. Common rural practice everywhere. The risk of financial loss from dead livestock and important native wildlife from an invasive species cat is far too great to do otherwise. This cats’ parasite is now even killing off rare marine mammals along all coastal regions from run-off containing this cat-parasites’ oocysts.
The next time you bite into that whole-grain veggie-muffin or McBurger, you need to just envision biting down on a shot-dead or drowned kitten or cat. For that’s precisely how that food supply got to your mouth — whether you want to face up to it or not. It’s not going to change reality no matter how much you twist your mind away from the truth of your world.
If you want to blame someone for the drowning and shooting of cats, you need to prosecute yourself — every time you eat.
So you’re murdering domestic cats, the beloved pets of many folk under the guise that they’re vicious killers. Clearly, were you in Africa, the lions, tigers, and etc. would be at great risk. You’re nothing but a fanatic who’s overstating the problem and causing grief to many people. There are laws that protect animals from people like you, and I hope they catch up with you some day. If you shot my cat I can guarantee I would shoot you.
Sigh … another imbecile … But before I prove why, it’s nice that you proved yet another thing I’ve come to know about every cat-licker on earth. They are also a self-evident and self-professed sociopath/psychopath. They would much rather that harm and death come to any human on earth than even one hair come to harm on one of their invasive-species vermin cats. (Children included, they don’t care one bit if a child gets bit by a rabid cat. You should read how they want rabid cats to roam communities even AFTER a child got bit by one, cat-lickers then blaming the child. Happens time and time again.)
Now, onto why you are an imbecile:
The law in the USA is that it is perfectly legal to destroy any animal, someone’s pet or not, that is threatening the health, well-being, and safety of yourself, your family, your animals, or even your property. Also true even in most densely populated cities, firearms laws permitting, if not then 700-1200fps air-rifles with vermin-pellets are commonly used. The newer ones even come with a sound-suppressor design built right-in, being designed specifically for shooting vermin cats in urban areas, the demand is that great. The only animals exempt from you taking immediate action, legally, are those listed on endangered or threatened species lists, regulated game-animals (hunting season only, except for designated “small game” on your own lands which is year-’round no-license in most states), and any bird species under protection of MBTA (the Migratory Bird Treaty Act). Even then variances can be given should there be sufficient problem but this requires further study by authorities. Since cats are listed in the TOP 100 WORST invasive species of the world in the “Global Invasive Species Database” ( http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=24&fr=1&sts=sss ), this means they have no protection whatsoever from being shot on sight, they are not on any protected species list anywhere in the world. Quite the opposite as a matter of fact. And if your area enforces and obeys invasive species laws — as they should — then it is against the law to NOT destroy any cat on sight, someone’s pet or not. It is your civic and moral responsibility to destroy any invasive species that is found away from supervised confinement and roaming freely in a non-native habitat.
(This is precisely how I managed to clear out every last one of hundreds of these invasive species vermin cats from my own lands. On the sound advice of the sheriff. Even he found that trying to reason with and warn the cat-lickers did no good. But shooting every last cat finally worked! My lands have been 100% cat-free for nearly 4 years now, for less than the price of a couple cups of coffee for the ammo — on close-out sale, 5000 rounds for $15. That’s THREE cats sterilized, permanently vaccinated against ALL diseases, and also given a permanent “loving forever home” (2ft. under) so they can no longer destroy any more native wildlife — PER PENNY!)
Aside: Poisons may also be used on any species that has been listed as a “vermin” species. Surprisingly, stray cats have been listed as “vermin” in the USA since the early 1900’s.
Shoot to maim is punishable under the laws that define animal-cruelty, and rightly so, (these are the ONLY cases that cat-lickers cite to try to manipulate and scare everyone from shooting their only favorite animal). But shoot to kill is a perfectly legal way to humanely destroy an animal. The same laws and principles that apply to methods of humanely hunting animals also applies to cats. (Hint: outfit your rifle with a good scope and laser-sight, inexpensive on ebay. This will ensure a totally humane, instant, and LEGAL kill each and every time. Though use a fatal chest-shot, a head-shot is not always a sure thing.) Unlike cat-lickers’ psychotic beliefs, the reality is that a cat is just another animal. It’s NOT their baby, their child, their offspring. Even if they do view their cats that way, letting them roam free is no less criminally irresponsible than them telling their child to go play in the freeway and then blaming the cars for their child’s death. If they let their cat roam free, NO MATTER HOW IT DIES, that is THEIR fault and they can be charged with all laws that clearly define animal-neglect, animal-abandonment, and animal-endangerment. Not to mention being in direct violation of all international invasive species laws in existence.
In fact, here’s a publication from a study done by the University of Nebraska on the best ways to HUMANELY deal with a feral-cat problem wherever you live. This documentation INCLUDES the best firearms, ammo, and air-rifles required to HUMANELY destroy cats. deenawinter.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/ec1781.pdf
Besides, what difference does it make if the cat gets shot or ran over by a car; attacked by another cat or animal; drowned; or poisoned by plants, animals, or chemicals (inexpensive 1-adult-strength generic acetaminophen pain-relievers gaining in popularity, for being so species specific, far far safer than antifreeze and rat-poisons that cat-lickers have forced everyone else into using lately — a method now even condoned by Audubon, National Geographic, and Smithsonian). The result is the same. The cause is the same — the fault of the criminally irresponsible pet-owner that let their invasive species pet roam free. They’ve already proved that their animal is 100% expendable. You can either destroy their cat for them humanely, or let their lack of care cause it to inevitably die inhumanely. They don’t care one bit how their cat might cruelly suffer to death if they let it roam free. Humanely destroy their cat for them before that can happen. A well aimed bullet is the MOST humane death that ANY stray or feral cat can ever look forward to. Any other death that they WILL eventually face is all inhumanely downhill from there.
So let me understand this: People who love cats, and there are millions and millions of them, are cat lickers, and people who disagree with your practice of killing someone’s beloved pet are imbeciles? Now I get it.
Please explain to everyone how letting a cat roam free to be ran over by a car, attacked by another cat (the torn-out eye eventually puss-filled and reaching the cat’s brain), being eaten from the inside out by parasites, letting other animals attack it, forcing cats to attack one another for territory (no different than people who run illegal dog-fight rings), and all the other myriad inhumane ways that every last stray and feral cat eventually meets its death …. is “love” for that animal.
Please explain your definition of “love”. Its meaning seems to elude all known definitions of that word when it comes to your “love for cats”. When it comes to cat-lickers, their love for cats means “torture cats and all other animals to death by having their cats attack them for toys”.
If you let your cat roam free, you don’t love it. You’re only using it as an expendable animal sacrifice to expand your own sense of territory. Nothing more than that.
(Another interesting original discovery of mine. The full explanation and proof can be found by Googling for (include quotes): “Reptilian Brain-stem Functions of the Cat-Licker — Human Territorial Behavior by Expendable Proxy” )
Totally flawed study and a waste of every dollar and man-hour wasted on educating these cretins.
They consider “lethal control” to be trapping and euthanizing. Of course it would have the same rates as trap & sterilize. They are BOTH depending on ineffective trapping methods (the very reason we have the problem as it exists today). The very same reason trap & kill failed is the very same reason that trap & sterilize fails, as will their TrapVHR method. You cannot get more people or community resources diverted to trap more than 0.4% of feral cats in any region. That’s the limit people are willing to devote to saving your vermin cats for you. (I researched over 100 of the claimed-“most successful” TNR programs worldwide. They always hit a magical less-than 0.4% limit of feral cats trapped in any area. ALWAYS allowing more than 99.6% of feral cats to breed out of control. TVHR is not going to change that. You will fail due to your T in the equation.)
On the other hand I employed hunted-to-extinction/extirpation methods. This is the ONLY method that is faster than these man-made cats can out-breed or out-adapt to. I shot and buried every last one of hundreds of cats on my own lands, in only 2 seasons. I’ve not seen even ONE cat in nearly 4 years now. The origin of cats mythical “vacuum effect” (as proved by a study from the Texas A&M University) is the simple case that cats attract cats. Get rid of every last one and there’s none there to attract more of them. If you want more cats, keep even one of them on your land, more will find you.
I also got my ammo on a close-out sale. 5000 rounds of .22s for only $15. That comes to solving the problem at the expense of 3 cats per PENNY. Each cat sterilized, permanently vaccinated for every disease (for ALL diseases cats spread to which there aren’t even vaccines yet and are even listed as bioterrorism agents), permanently contained from destroying any more valuable native wildlife, and also given a permanent “loving forever home” just like cat-lickers want for all their cats, only this one being 2 feet deep. ALL THAT for only 1/3rd of a cent per cat. And ALL done in less than 2 seasons of my time and effort. No waiting around for years and years while more wildlife is destroyed, more people contract rabies and other deadly diseases from cats, while waiting to see if some new computer-model was right or not.
Let’s see those factors ran through their computer modeling. 🙂
Live in your mommy’s basements much? Pavement-brain syndrome perhaps?
My wildlife has been recovering phenomenally for the last 4 years. I estimate that I spot about one returning or one never-seen-before native species PER DAY since every last cat is gone. That’s a lot of species that these invasive species cats destroyed during their time on my lands. That’s NEVER going to happen — ever again. See one cat, shoot one cat. The solution is as simple as that.
Dear Woodsman,
Poor boy. You have really no idea do you?
Cats are ‘life forms’ on the planet Earth and have as much right to be here as you do – possibly more but I’ll be polite and not go there.
Cat’s have been here longer than we (humanity) have so how dare you suggest they have no right to be here.
As for your ‘wildlife’. It’s called ‘nature’ pal. Nature can be cruel and due to natures cruelness sometimes certain species get to be extinct – usually because of you actually as you are human. We have caused so much damage and extinction to our world we – or in this case, you, have no right to speak.
Cat’s do indeed kill creatures. They may even kill endangered species but they kill for food – albeit they may have enough food in the homes they live in but ‘instinct will out’ eh?
If you don’t understand the natural balance as you clearly don’t then try learning and bettering yourself.
Your comment is one of a complete prick – you may not be a complete prick of course – but try learning a bit before you speak mate.
In your defence, I can also be a complete prick.
Actually, I often am – that’s life eh? 😉
Cat’s are cool mate. Live with it.
I respect your view by the way. Respect cats. They’ll outlive us all mate.
Trust me, they will.
Nice one Dr. J – You’re right and Woody is wrong – just my opinion peeps…be gentle eh?
Actually ‘Woody’ I just re-read your comment and I take all my ‘nice’ things back.
You are a total wanker mate – on a good day.
While it is true that overpopulation of humans is the #1 problem that we and all other species face today (humans are classified as a “weedy” species, but they ARE NOT an “invasive species”, please educate your sorry-a**ed bible-home-schooled selves); this still doesn’t excuse all the responsible, wise, and intelligent people from stopping all the ecological disasters caused by those phenomenally stupid and criminally negligent people who should have never been born in the very first place. (You know, wastes of flesh, JUST LIKE YOU.)
Cats are a man-made (through selective breeding) invasive species. And as such, cats being a product of man’s intervention, are no less of a man-made environmental disaster than any oil-spill, radiation-fallout, chemical-spill, or other environmental disaster _caused_by_man_. Cats are _not_exempt_ from having to be removed from every natural environment, wherever and whenever they are found away from supervised confinement. Just as you would do all you can to remove Zebra Mussels from any waterway where they don’t belong. Or Burmese Pythons and African Cichlids from every habitat where they exist in N. America today. Burmese Pythons and African Cichlids started out as pets too. Many of our destructive invasive species pests started out as PETS discarded by criminally-irresponsible humans. (Or from pets’ habitats, e.g. Eurasian Watermilfoil that is annihilating native aquatic life in many regions of the USA came from people irresponsibly dumping their pet-fish aquarium water into lakes and streams.) And guess what happens to all those other non-native pets that became destructive invasive species? They are destroyed on-site by any means possible — no questions asked — none required.
Cats are even worse than an oil-spill of multi-continent-sized proportions. They not only kill off rare and endangered marine-mammals along all coastlines (just as all oil-spills do) from run-off from the land carrying cats’ Toxoplasma gondii parasites, they also destroy the complete food-chain in every ecosystem where cats are found today. From smallest of prey that is gutted and skinned alive for cats’ tortured play-toys (not even used for food, wasted just for senseless play), up to the top predators that are starved to death from cats destroying their ONLY food sources. (Precisely what cats caused on my own land not long ago.) They don’t destroy just birds. They destroy everything that moves — directly or indirectly. They will even destroy valuable native vegetation by destroying those animals that are required pollinators for those plants or those that act as seed dispersers for those plants (as many smaller rodent and bird species do) or those that act as pest-control for those plants. Cats can and will wipe out whole ecosystems eventually — animal and plant.
Cats need to disappear from all natural habitats PERMANENTLY, eventually, somehow. And the sooner the better. They are breeding out of control at an exponential rate. The reason for “sooner the better” is that you can only hope you can halt the problem before it is beyond the reach of any method you eventually choose. Luckily, I caught the problem in time where I live (by humanely shooting and burying every last cat I saw, hundreds, collared or not, totally LEGAL). Though I had plenty of native predators (owls, fox, hawks, etc.) available that eventually repopulated my lands so as to not cause any explosions of unwanted species and further imbalance. It seems nobody else is faring as well. Their time is being wasted by cat-lickers stopping them from doing the right thing. Asking or listening to any deranged invasive-species advocate for advice on how to clean up the ecological disaster that they created and perpetuate is about as useful as asking your local career thieves for advice and help to hide your valuables from their daily motives and activities. Ignore anything they might say and you too will solve the problem where you live.
It worked 100% where I live.
Oh, I forgot to mention, if you think Dr. J is right, then you’ve already admitted that cats need to die out, and the sooner the better. That’s why that study was done, to find the quickest way because standard-issue TNR isn’t working fast enough.
If you believe that these man-made cats are a natural part of ANY environment on earth (which they are not), then why would you even bother to sterilize them? Ever think about that?
And THAT is precisely the depth and breadth of your absurd and blatant hypocrisy borne by your proved ignorance and stupidity. Thanks for proving just what you are to the whole world.
Is it really necessary to be an insulting asshole Woodsman? You couldn’t make your case without the vitriol? Clearly not.
I lost my tolerance for imbeciles long ago. They need to be apologizing every day to the rest of the world for their very existence. Or at least keep their stupid mouths and opinions to themselves. But then, that’s why they are imbeciles, isn’t it.
I do understand that Woodsman.
Sad to have to come to that point, isn’t it.
Cats do pose a considerable threat to wildlife, but I don’t know I could shoot them. At present I have 7 dogs that make sure the feral cats don’t come on to the property, about 8 acres.
I’d be very concerned for the safety of your dogs. A cat even scratching a dog can turn into $thousands in vet bills for your pets, if not their deaths. (Lots of horrendous stories online about that.)
These are just the diseases these invasive species cats have been spreading to humans, not counting the ones they spread to all wildlife. THERE ARE NO VACCINES against many of these, and are in-fact listed as bio-terrorism agents. They include: Afipia felis, Anthrax, Bartonella (Rochalimaea) henselae, Bergeyella (Weeksella) zoohelcum, Campylobacter Infection, Cat Scratch Disease, Chlamydia psittaci (feline strain), Cowpox, Coxiella burnetti Infection (Q fever), Cryptosporidium Infection, Cutaneous larva migrans, Dermatophytosis, Dipylidium Infection (tapeworm), Hookworm Infection, Leptospira Infection, Giardia, Neisseria canis, Pasteurella multocida, Plague, Poxvirus, Rabies, Rickettsia felis, Ringworm, Salmonella Infection, Scabies, Sporothrix schenckii, Toxocara Infection, Toxoplasmosis, Trichinosis, Visceral larva migrans, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. [Centers for Disease Control, July 2010] Bovine Tuberculosis, Flea-borne Typhus, Rat-Bite Fever, Sarcosporidiosis, and Tularemia can now also be added to that list. (Aside: Yes, the plague is alive and well in the USA and being spread by cats today. People have already died from cat-transmitted plague. Disproving the oft-spewed cat-lickers’ lie that more cats in Europe could have prevented the spread of the plague. No rats nor fleas required if you have plague-infested cats around. Once a cat has contracted the plague it can spread it to the whole cat-colony and then to any other animals or humans those cats come in contact with.)
I tried feeding one of the shot-dead cats on my land to the last few starving opossum (almost all the rest of my native wildlife starved to death from cats destroying all their food sources). Thinking that for once these invasive-species cats could give back for what they had destroyed and wasted during their existence — giving the remainder of the starved-out opossum a much needed protein boost. Those opossum promptly died from some disease in that cat-meat. Alarming — in that opossum, due to their cooler body temperatures, cannot contract nor transmit many common diseases, not even rabies. They are one of the most disease-free animals in N. America. (Quite an admirable species when you learn about them. They’ve even recently isolated something in opossum’s blood that makes any animal injected with it immune to the most deadly bio-toxins on earth.) Yet … something in that cat-meat was able to kill all the opossum that were under my care (2 adults, 3 offspring they had while under my care). Cats truly are complete and total wastes of flesh. They can’t even be used to safely feed wild animals. Leaving any of these invasive-species cats out in nature, alive OR dead, is no better than intentionally poisoning your native wildlife to death.
PLEASE dispose of them safely, responsibly, and hygienically as possible (i.e. no disease-filled shotgun splatter, the tool of choice in the past, cleanly with a rifle is best). Wear gloves while doing so to protect yourself as well. After the last cat is gone incinerate or bury those gloves too.
From time to time a cat wanders onto the property, albeit rarely. Each time the critter didn’t have a chance. The dogs would find it and shred it, literally, before it had much of a chance to defend itself. I wasn’t aware of the information you provided here, so I have to put my research hat on now and do some investigating. I will admit it’s a fascinating subject, and you’re right about more cats equalling less rats during the Great Mortality. Just wouldn’t work.
p.s. I too grew up with the fond memory of many a cute cat in my arms. I delayed shooting them (because I just couldn’t muster-up the strength of heart required to do that), by first trying an ecological method. I tried to raise an army of native predators. (Long story, that led to an interesting original discovery of why no native predators on earth can keep these man-made cats in check. You can read about it here: neighbors.denverpost D0T com SLASH viewtopic.php?t=22154584#p2781776 )
When I found out that no native predators will oust these man-made cats, then I had to (excuse the pun) “bite the bullet” and learn how to use a rifle. (On advice of my sheriff.)
I had a pet wild chipmunk that used to ride around in my pocket or on top of my head as I’d roam through the woods. Or even try to balance on my camera during a photo-trek. With him giving me a good reprimand if I moved too fast to where he’d almost fall off.
Then one day a cat went after him. That was it. The gloves came off.
The first dozen cats or so I had to envision them with my pet-chipmunk dangling from their maw in order to shoot those cats. But by about the 50th cat it became like shooting cans on a fence-rail. Today, after having to shoot and bury literally hundreds of cats, disposing of a cat is of no more concern than wadding up a piece of paper and chucking it into a waste-basket.
Since hunted to extinction (or extirpation of all outdoor cats, in this case) is the ONLY method that is going to keep their numbers in check … you are not alone in having to overcome your inability to shoot and dispose of cats.
I did the math. Using population-growth calculus, I calculated that if each and every person of gun-wielding age in the USA started shooting cats this year, EACH AND EVERY PERSON will have to shoot AT LEAST 31 cats this year alone just to match their breeding rates in the USA. And if your of-age neighbor is unwilling to do their civic duty, then you must take up their slack and shoot their quota of cats for them. And mind you, that’s just to match cats’ breeding rates. People would have to shoot more than 31 cats per year to start to reverse their population growth, if not then it would be everyone’s civic duty to shoot 31 cats per year into perpetuity.
Lots of people are going to have to overcome their fear of shooting cats. It’s the only solution left now.
You make a persuasive argument, but are you talking about all cats, not just wild ones? Outdoor cats only?
ALL outdoor cats. Stray cats with collars are the very source of all feral cats. If you don’t destroy them too then you’ve done nothing to solve the feral cat problem. Not ONE of the many many dozens of collared cats that I had to shoot and bury were sterilized. I didn’t have them on my target-list until I found out later that one I accidentally shot wasn’t sterilized. I then checked the next collared cat. Same thing. I checked each and every one before putting them into their well-deserved holes in the ground. NOT ONE of the hundreds of cats I shot were sterilized, collared or not. Oh, but the cat-licking neighbors around me all claimed that ALL their cats were sterilized! For years and years they claimed this as the problem grew out of control. (If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all of this; if a cat-licker is talking then they are lying. 100% guaranteed.)
The rule here is: Any non-native cat that is allowed to roam free to hunt then in turn gets hunted. No excuses, no delays, NO EXCEPTIONS.
ZERO TOLERANCE on ANY outdoor domesticated cats.
An excerpt from my much lengthier oft-used post on why licensing and laws do nothing to curb the problem.
…. I don’t see anyone dumping cats where I live anymore. They don’t even adopt more than can be kept under lock & key 24/7. When driving through the area I don’t see even one cat on anyone’s doorsteps anymore. I always keep an eye out to see if there are more free-roaming cats that will have to be shot. And if I’ll have to leave fish-oil trails on all the roadsides again, leading right to my IR surveillance system and laser-sighted rifle. (You can read some of the most effective methods I invented to rid my lands of hundreds of these vermin in only two seasons, posted here: americanhunter D0T org/blogs/arkansas-will-trap-feral-cats The eradication so complete and effective that cats are non-existent from my area for nearly 4 years now. Not seen a one.)
Leaving ANY of their invasive species cats outside in my area means certain death for that cat, their further existence can be counted in hours. You’d think everyone else could learn from this simple lesson. The quickest way to solve an unwanted animal and irresponsible pet-owner problem is to let everyone know that you will quickly and humanely destroy every last one of their unwanted, uncared-for, or unsupervised animals for them. They either grow up fast or, far more plausible, dump their animals elsewhere to become someone else’s problem.
You just can’t be an enabler of criminally irresponsible spineless and heartless idiots — or they remain that way. (At least where you live, anyway.)
IF THERE ARE NOT DIRECT AND IMMEDIATE IRREVERSIBLE CONSEQUENCES TO THEIR CRIMINALLY-NEGLIGENT AND CRIMINALLY-IRRESPONSIBLE BEHAVIORS AND VALUES THEN THEY LEARN ABSOLUTELY *NOTHING*.
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Aside: In case you are curious — the term that I use of “cat licker” is justifiably and accurately gleaned from the growing fad of people who are obsessed with cats and want to do everything possible to make their cats feel good, as naturally as possible, at the expense of all that is reasonable and sane.
They are now licking their cats clean.
youtube D0T com SLASH watch?v=p9xmiOxsTWg
Since they see a cat fighting back from being washed in water as animal abuse, but the cat not fighting if they use their tongues, they use their tongues instead to wash their cats.
It’s just another one of the many aberrant and mentally-ill behaviors of “cat lickers”.
I cannot, in all good conscience and honesty, EVER use the term “cat lover” again to describe these heartless and spineless cretins. People who love cats do not throw them under the wheels of moving cars, let them lap-up antifreeze in a gutter, force them to attack one another to fight for territory (no different than people who run dog-fight rings and are just as criminal of animal abuse), or let them be attacked by other animals by letting them roam free. “Cat Lover” is an extremely oxymoronic label. “Cat Licker” is the only one that accurately works today.