Trap, Neuter, and Release: Bad for Cats, Disaster for Birds (HD)

Each year free-roaming and feral cats kill hundreds of million of birds in the United States http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/index.html. One controversial solution to deal with the feral cat problem is trap, neuter and release. However, evidence is growing that this method is not eliminating the cat colonies or the predation of birds and other wildlife. There are other problems created by feral cats as well including threats to human health, and public nuisance issues. For more information see American Bird Conservancy's website at http://www.abcbirds.org

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• birds
• cats
• wildlife
• conservation
• environment
• health
• rabies
• invasive species
• endangered species
• government
• taxes

[Murphygrif]

LOL, this is why most birding forums shut down these threads after a couple days: It really is such a contentious topic. As a bird-watcher who also has cats (indoors-only, of course), I see both sides of the argument. Yes, cats are an introduced, "invasive" species which kill native wildlife. Human laziness is what produced feral colonies to begin with. TNR is a viable alternative. Properly managed colonies will shrink over time, & human contact might even help tame some; ferals CAN be tamed.

[abcbirds]

Unfortunately, TNR is not a viable alternative because it doesn't actually reduce cat populations, or address the inhumanity of abandoning cats to be hit by cars, killed by predators, or to die a horrible prolonged death from disease or infection.

[rrrina]

TNR works to reduce the feral cat population. The problem is, there are not enough of us doing it. If more people helped in TNR efforts (instead of whining about how it doesn't work) the feral cat population would dwindle.

[abcbirds]

Dear Rrrina,

If you have evidence that TNR is reducing cat populations we would be very interested in seeing it. The studies we've see show it doesn't work to reduce feral cat populations, and that colonies remain stable or grow larger over time, causing terrible carnage to other wildlife.

[sagifshahab]

@abcbirds If you do TNR to a cat. The cat can't reproduce. If you do it to many cats, they can't reproduce. So how do colonies that can't reproduce grow over time ? If they grow, it's not because of direct reproduction, but because abandoned cats from irresponsible owners join in. So you can't blame TNR. The problem lies with not enough people doing it and not taking full responsibility of their pets.

[MegaSonicKing]

@abcbirds When you do TNR .They cannot have kittens.So preventing more of them.

[paintmyworld1]

@abcbirds My mother helps with a TNR program on the campus of the University of Florida. they have not trapped an unaltered cat or had any new kittens born in their colony in years since staring the program I think 7 years ago. It does take dedication and it does take a few years and all the kittens that were caught were not returned they were domesticated and adopted to home after being sterilized. I am a cat owner and bird lover too. but trapping and killing cats is not acceptable either.

[feriwarlock]

As someone who lives by a canyon with a small feral cat population I can say TNR does not work. There are still just as many cats just different ones. I understand why people do it out of compassion but in most cased the cats would probably be better off euthanized rather than dying a horrible death. The only way I can see TNR working is in a controlled setting (a confinement/habitat area) not released back out into the wild.

[79barkingspider]

I had one experience with bird-cat. My cat knocked off a bird or two in an adjacent field, and the neighbor bitched about it because she put out a bird feeder to watch the little darlings. "Well, my wife said, I guess your bird feeder just became a cat feeder!"

[BirdingCristina]

@southerner66 The problem is that unlike squirrels, cats are non-native introduced species who are overpopulated and supported by humans.

[BirdingCristina]

@taurinecat The exact same thing happens with TNR. Populations have actually been known to increase after TNR (go to abcbirds dot org, click on Cats Indoors campaign, click on Cat Colonies and TNR, click on "Critical Assessment of Claims Regarding Management of Feral Cats by Trap-Neuter-Return")

[BirdingCristina]

@tpanitz1 Cats ARE a human problem. They were introduced here and they benefit from expanding human populations. Just because they aren't the #1, primary reason does not make the issue smaller.

[BirdingCristina]

@CanadaIndieFilm 1. Cats are a human impact. They were introduced by people and have never existed before as natural predators in N. America. And the problem isn't only feral cats,, but all cats that are let outside and end up killing wildlife.

[BirdingCristina]

@BirdingCristina "In North America Coleman and Temple (1996) developed estimates of cat densities in Wisconsin and associated mortality of 8–217 million birds per year"

[BirdingCristina]

@BirdingCristina 5). "Churcher and Lawton (1987) concluded that

cats were responsible for 30% of the mortality of House

Sparrows (Passer domesticus) in an English village" 6). "From a survey of cat owners that documented prey returned by 696 cats, Woods

et al. (2003) estimated that the 9 million cats in Britain

kill at least 52–63 million mammals, 25–29 million birds,

and 4–6 million reptiles each summer.