Animal activist offers solution
for feral cats
Some things are more
complicated than they appear. Like the feral cat
problem. I had to have it explained to me three times
by three different experts, including Lieutenant Mary
Lou Respess at Gwinnett Animal Control.
What appears to be the
obvious solution seems simple. If stray cats are
hanging around your home or restaurant, just call
animal control and let them take care of them. It’s
their job, right?
Well, like I said,
it’s more complicated than that. First, all animal
control can do is euthanize them because the cats are
not socialized and are not fit for adoption. Not only
does euthanizing cost taxpayers money, but animal
control would have to increase their workforce – and
payroll - at least tenfold to capture all the feral
cats in the county. And then, that wouldn’t even to
the trick.
The only answer,
according to Tom Wargo of The Backyard Sanctuary, is a
method known as Trap-Neuter-Return, developed by Brian
Kortis of Neighborhood Cats, based in New York City.
The way Wargo explains
it, if you have feral cats hanging out, something
there is attracting them. Even if you get rid of all
the cats, more will come in their place. If a feral
cat takes up residence in your yard, more will come
because an animal’s basic instinct is to breed.
Fertile cats attract other fertile cats. Then they
breed. And breed. And breed. Two cats, over a period
of seven years, can produce 420,000 cats, all
unadoptable.
However, if you have a
feral cat neutered, no other cats will show up because
they can sense there are no cats there with which they
can breed. Thus, the neutered cats act as a natural
barrier.
“It’s like going
to a singles bar where there is no one to pick up,”
Wargo said. “Other cats will just go someplace else.
The neutered cats you have cannot breed and will
eventually die a natural death.”
Wargo also noted that
once male cats are neutered, they no longer spray,
howl, or do any of the other obnoxious things males do
when they want to breed.
I still wasn’t sure
about all of this, but I read online that in San
Francisco, after TNR had been implemented for six
years, there was a drastic decrease in the feral cat
population and euthanasia rates for cats declined by
71 percent.
In Gwinnett we have
two effective ways of eliminating feral cats. One is
to rent a trap, pay to have the cat neutered, give it
post-operative care and then return it to its turf.
The other is to call Wargo and let TBS do the TNR for
about half the cost. And that is not the least bit
complicated.
On Saturday, April 4,
from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Wargo is offering a workshop
for anyone interested in learning the TNR method. For
information call 404-345-6821 or visit
www.thebackyardsanctuary.org
