How The TNR Program
Works
The Mechanics of of
the BCCI Feral Cat TNR Program
The Problem
Domestic cats are the most popular American pet. There are currently
over 60 million domestic pet cats in the US. Over the years many less
fortunate domestic cats have been dumped or abandoned by their owners
and have reverted to wild. These are known as feral cats. It is
estimated that there are at least half as many or perhaps an equal
number of feral cats to domestic cats in the US. Ferals live in the
shadows in close proximity to a food source which is often a garbage
dumpster or food put out by a good hearted human. In fact feeding
ferals, although frowned on or outright outlawed by some
municipalities, is a common practice. Good-hearted people who come upon
a hungry unowned outdoor do what their heart tells them and start
feeding the cat or a colony of cats.
Unlike
house-cats, feral cats generally are fearful of humans and do not want
to interact with them to any significant extent except to appear at
feeding time. Ferals live in the shadows in small colonies making a
living from eating rodents and whatever scraps they can find or are
offered them. Although they live in the shadows and are generally quite
secretive, ferals are often feared by human as they are thought, often
mistakenly, to be a cause of nuisance and a danger to the public
health. Noisy males fighting over the affections of females are often
the source of nuisance complaints to local health officials. Being
un-neutered feral cats will breed indiscriminately and their numbers
will only be limited by their available food supply. Unvaccinated and
un-neutered feral cats can certainly represent potential for
overpopulation and represent a rabies vector although the incidence of
transmission of rabies from cats to humans is extremely low and there
has been no proven transmissions of rabies from cats to humans in the
United States in almost 10 years.
It
is for these reasons that some municipalities have outlawed feral cat
feeding in attempting to minimize their numbers and feral-related
nuisance complaints.
In
New Jersey, ferals that find themselves picked up by animal control
officers (ACOs) who are responding to nuisance complaints, are at best
condemned to a terrifying and mandatory week in a shelter environment
Because colony caregivers are unlikely be be aware of an individual cat
shelter/incarceration and because ferals are not generally adoptable as
domestic pets, ferals who find themselves in animal control facilities
will generally end up being euthanized. In fact, with no way to
identify or track these unfortunates, even if they had caregivers, it
is highly unlikely that caregivers would even be aware that their cats
have been picked up and incarcerated. It is very unlikely than any cat
(domestic or feral) pickup up and sheltered in New Jersey will be
redeemed by an owner/caregiver; the likelihood of owner redemption of a
feline from a NJ county shelter is, in most cased, significantly less
than 5% (five per-cent). The main reason for this is that it is
unlikely that a stray or feral cat's owner can be identified and
contacted for animal redemption. In effect until recently, the practice
of "trap and kill" has been the accepted way of dealing with stray and
feral cats. The ineffectiveness of a "trap and kill" approach is proven
by the simple fact that the number of feral cat-related nuisance
complaints does not decrease where "trap and kill" methods are
employed. In effect, with a "trap and kill" approach, not only are the
ferals in the shadows but the human feral caregivers are also forced
into the shadows as they do not want to be seen feeding cats nor
prosecuted for breaking any anti-feral feeding ordinances. The feral
caregivers want to keep themselves and their feral colonies as
invisible as possible for their mutual protection.
A
draconian feral "trap and kill" philosophy produces a lose-lose-lose
and the worst possible scenario. Feral caregivers, in going
underground, are not approachable to be educated on how to properly
care for their feral colonies. Feral cats with TNR-uneducated
caregivers will not have access to the free or reduced cost vaccination
and reduced cost spay and neuter programs that might be available to
help them. With large improperly cared-for feral colonies, local
shelters will be deluged with feral cats, who will in turn be terrified
by their incarceration for the last week of their lives before they are
killed.
How The TNR Program Works
