Feral Cat Overpopulation Essay

Feral cat populations have skyrocketed over the last few decades, and no one can quite agree on what to do about it. The overpopulation of feral cats pose a danger to birds and other wildlife, along with some risks to humans given the diseases they could possibly carry. Both sides agree something must be done about the feral cat population, but the debate comes in what should be done. For years the solution to the problem was to simply kill the feral cats, but the use of TNR, trap-neuter-return, is becoming more popular. TNR offers the option to shrink the population of feral cats, without causing the death of thousands of kitties. Trap-neuter-return is a process that involves trapping stray or feral cats, having them neutered and returning

Once these kittens have reached six weeks of age without contact with humans, it is almost impossible to domesticate them. I myself own a cat who I captured at about six weeks old without her ever having contact with a human before. At one and a half years old, after giving her much love and care, she is still utterly terrified of human beings other than myself, even ones living in the same home. This is why sadly adoption is not an option for trapped feral cats. There’s no doubt many places are suffering from an overpopulation of cats. Most anyone you talk to from a rural area will tell you about their feral cat problem. According to David A. Jessup, there are estimated to be 60 to 100 million feral or abandoned cats in the United States alone. (2004) Clearly, something should be done about the overabundance of cats.

That ‘something’ is largely where the debate comes in. Peter Marra, a bird expert at the Smithsonian Institution 's Conservation Biology Institute, goes so far as to compare the controversy to that of abortion. (Raasch, 2012) In a way he’s right, as the debate does come down to that of life versus

Once the feral cats are released, I believe the best course would be to free them on a farm or another rural area where someone is willing to provide the most minimal care to the feral animals. There are often volunteers willing to take in colonies of cats to roam free on their property to avoid them being euthanized at local shelters in communities where the release of animals to run at large is banned. (M. Schlinkmann, 2015)

Some argue the feeding of feral cats should be banned to prevent colonies from forming, even go so far as to say feeding of a feral cat is “subsidizing a killer.” (K. Butler, 2011) Attorney Andrew Hicks argues feral cats should be treated as wild animals themselves, and “by banning their feeding, you may as well also ban the feeding of birds and other wild animals.” (V. Black, 2014.) By banning the feeding of feral cats but no other wild animal, the effort used to capture, neuter, and release the animals is gone to waste as they will likely starve in more urban areas where hunting is