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The <strong>Neighborhood</strong> <strong>Cats</strong> <strong>TNR</strong> <strong>Handbook</strong><br />
Overbreeding<br />
Trapping all the members of a feral colony requires a sustained and dedicated effort.<br />
Few animal control agencies have the resources to accomplish this and, instead, usually<br />
put out some traps, catch who they catch and then move on to the next problem.<br />
Inevitably, some cats are left behind. These cats now have less competition for the food<br />
and shelter remaining at the site. As a result, they will give birth more frequently and<br />
more of their kittens will survive until the former population level is again attained.<br />
Abandonment<br />
Domestic cats are constantly being abandoned into the outdoors and typically they are<br />
not neutered. They too, can quickly repopulate a suitable territory from which a feral<br />
colony has been removed, but food and shelter remain.<br />
Lack of animal control resources<br />
Few cities or towns have the resources to even consider trying to trap all the feral cats<br />
inhabiting their municipalities. In large cities, for example, where there are relatively few<br />
animal control officers and feral populations in at least the tens of thousands, trap and kill<br />
as an overall solution is simply not an option.<br />
These four factors – the vacuum effect, overbreeding, abandonment and lack of<br />
animal control resources – combine to render trap and kill completely ineffectual as a<br />
method of feral and stray cat population control. Communities that continue to utilize<br />
this method experience constant levels from year to year of seized cats, complaints and<br />
euthanasia rates. These unchanging levels indicate all that is being accomplished is<br />
population turnover rather than reduction – new feline faces, but not fewer.<br />
Stop feeding<br />
At first glance, this method has the appeal of simplicity – don’t feed the cats and<br />
they’ll go away. The problem is, unless there is another food source nearby, they won’t.<br />
Feral cats are extremely territorial and will not wander far in search of food. Rather than<br />
leaving, they tend to come closer, taking more risks in encroaching on human habitations<br />
as they grow increasingly desperate to find something to eat. In addition, a cat can go<br />
without food for several weeks and continue to reproduce. Trying to starve out cats<br />
results only in hungry, unhealthy animals vulnerable to disease and severe parasitic<br />
infestations, such as fleas. What might have seemed like a simple solution ends up<br />
making the situation much worse.<br />
Furthermore, nothing is harder than trying to stop people from putting out food once<br />
they know there are cats in need. People will risk their jobs, their apartments and even<br />
bodily harm to prevent the animals from starving. Attempts to make feral cats go away<br />
by banning feeding usually result in suffering for the cats and increased conflict with<br />
feeders, but little else.<br />
Rescue or relocation<br />
The goal that all ferals should be rescued and placed in homes is not realistic. There<br />
are far too many cats and too few homes for this to happen. Perhaps one day this will<br />
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