The TNR model is just that: trap feral cats, neuter or spay them, and return them to the environment. Their solution? A straightforward strategy of “trap, neuter, and return,” or “TNR.” They argue that feral cats are simply living an unproblematic “natural lifestyle.” And while some dispute any deleterious effects of cats on native wildlife, they generally agree that an enormous population of feral felines isn’t great. Vocal feral cat advocacy groups, however, reject the very notion of culling efforts. Until 500 years ago, native wildlife in the Americas didn’t have to contend with the immense predatory pressure of Felis domesticus. Until early civilizations domesticated wild cats around 10,000 years ago, small felines (like lynx or ocelots) existed in very low numbers in their natural environs. After all, it’s not the cats’ fault that they have become so ecologically problematic-that’s on us, the humans who since 1492 have let cats loose on the Americas and done little to hinder their spread.Ī feral cat colony. To any cat owner, however, that plan is a hard sell. Many scientists in government agencies and private research institutions argue for a cull : a coordinated effort to trap and euthanize as many feral cats as possible. So what’s the solution to this big problem? Well, that depends on who you ask. Outside of human-driven habitat destruction, there is arguably no greater threat to small wildlife species-especially birds-than feral cats. kill 6.9 to 20.7 billion animals annually. The total across all species of wildlife is even more grave: when reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals are included in the tally, scientists estimate that feral cats in the U.S. That’s a far higher toll than the still-significant 600 million birds killed in window collisions and up to 340 million killed in vehicle collisions every year. feral and outdoor cat populations combined can rack up 1.4 billion to 3.7 billion bird kills per year. īut why are these cats so acutely problematic?Ī 2012 study estimated that a single feral cat kills 23 to 46 birds per year-25% of which they don’t eat -and an outdoor pet cat can match those figures. That’s a lot of cats, considering American pet owners only registered 94.2 million pet cats in 2017. Some reports point to figures above 100 million. © David ChernackĮxact estimates vary, but various sources report that there are between 50 and 70 million feral cats in the United States. Like many warblers, sparrows, and other small bird species, cats are a huge threat to these beautiful songsters. Yellow Warblers like this one are a common migratory songbird in the U.S. If we’d allowed him to grow up into an outdoor cat, he’d be no different than any of our country’s enormous population of feral cats -a death knell for many common and threatened native species of wildlife in the U.S. I also wondered how many people would shrug at the death of the warbler because of our tenacious cultural attachment to cats.Įlijah is now three years old and enjoys his life as an indoor cat, hunting squeaky toys rather than wild critters. I thought how that warbler, who had flown thousands of miles from his wintering grounds in Central America to breed at the farm, had had his bright life snuffed out by a hungry feral cat. In that moment, I recalled the grisly sight of a feral cat with a dead Yellow Warbler in its mouth during one of my regular bird walks at Vassar Farm. “Because,” I said, incredulously, “just look at him! If he gets outside, he’ll eat every single bird from our backyard. “But why can’t he be an outdoor cat? Maine coons are meant to be out in nature,” my brother said, eyeing Elijah, our then-new cat who has since grown to a size double that of a normal house cat. It’s time to talk brass tacks about solving the problem, for the sake of our native wildlife. The United States is facing a crisis of feral cats.
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