spay and release - thoughts? - Erica1989

We do this in my county through a program called C-SNIP.  They also do low cost or free spay/neuter for people who qualify.  Our county has something called KAN, Kent Animal Network.  The human society shelter (not actually affiliated with HSUS), the county AC shelter, and C-SNIP all work together to give the animals their best shot.  For some of them, being released is really the most humane.  There's a local cat rescue that I actually reported to the police b/c they keep over 200 cats in a very small space.  Most of them are ferals they have gone out looking for an taken in.  We adopted one from them before we knew what they were all about and she had many behavioral problems due to not being able to adjust to being a domestic cat.  Sadly, she had many infections that masked FIP and by the time she was accurately diagnosed she had to be put down.  She never did get fully litter trained and we just tried to give her a warm, peaceful place while we could.  For wild cats like that, I just don't see the reason in trying to force them to be a pet, especially when there are already pet cats being euthanized for space.

erica1989

What are YOUR thoughts on spay and release progrmams?

I don't believe that they work.  I never have heard of a place where the number of feral cats goes down with the programs in place.  The numbers only seem to go up.  You know they have  a huge feral population here in Hillsborough and there are programs in place.  I have seen numbers stated from surveys that estimates the population of ferals almost matches the number of owned cats. 

One other thing about cats running loose.  It gives the people that don't want their cats anymore just another excuse to let their un-neutered cats loose instead of finding homes for them.  They use the excuse that there are ones out there already running loose and what is one more, besides someone will feed it.  I saw it in the apartment complex next to me.  There was a couple feeding about 4 loose cats.  Well within a year that 4 turned into 20.  The apartment owners had enough and had them all trapped and removed.  Well guess what within 3 months there were 5 more cats out there (none of them neutered).  Well the people that were feeding them went and found some kittens that people were giving away and let them loose and are feeding them. 

I think people are going to release their pets no matter what kind of programs are in affect.

This is the reason we have all of our traps set up - someone came to relinquish their cat, and it jumped out of the car when they tried to get in into a carrier, and escaped into the woods behind the shelter. (we also caught a cat that escaped from us over a year ago, she's now in a new home, doing very well)

The cat we caught today was a big tom, with a wound on his ear. We had to sedate him to look at the wound, and to test him for FIV. If he was negative, our plan was to neuter him, give him some pen for infection, vaccines, and let him go back in the woods. There is, in my opinion, any reason to force a feral cat to live in a cage for a few months. If not to control the pet population, is it not humane for us to let these animals to go back into their home? Our county facility's director is NOT in favor of this type of program, and they do euthanize any ferals caught.

Most of your feral cats are not the ones coming up to people's back porches and munching on the cat food. Ferals want absolutely nothing to do with humans, and stay as far away as possible. And, I have to say, I have never trapped a skinny feral - so they must be doing something right!

The kitty we caught today was FIV positive, so he had to be put to sleep.

 My BF's family does very small scale "fix and release" at their house. Their cats are indoor/outdoor cats and they leave food for them outside, which means that sometimes strays or ferals will show up at their doorstep. If the cats stick around for a while, BF's family puts out a Have-a-Heart trap and carts the cat in to the vet for shots and altering. Their most recent acquisition they originally thought was feral, but turned out to be just a very skinny, very scared lap-cat. This cat only goes outside to eliminate (heaven forbid he deign to use a litterbox, lol). They also "have" one feral cat, who is best of friends with one of their pet cats, so they would never dream of getting rid of the feral for fear of breaking the other cat's little heart.

I guess since I'm fairly uneducated I don't see the harm in releasing altered, vaccinated ferals back into the wild, assuming the population isn't wildly out of hand. 

 I have mixed feelings on such practices.  Certainly fixing the cat and releasing it is better for the cat than being put down.  It also is better to do that than nothing at all, since if nothing more it prevents that feline from producing any more offspring.  At the same time however, it is releasing a potential predator back into world that can continue to affect the native wildlife population.  Not only are they potentially taking meals from similar sized wild predators but they are also hunting smaller native wildlife.  Like anything, it has the potential for messing up the balance.  I suppose it would depend on the location, the current feral cat population, and the damage being done to native wildlife, if I would support catch and release.

Krissim Klaw

 At the same time however, it is releasing a potential predator back into world that can continue to affect the native wildlife population.  Not only are they potentially taking meals from similar sized wild predators but they are also hunting smaller native wildlife.  Like anything, it has the potential for messing up the balance.  I suppose it would depend on the location, the current feral cat population, and the damage being done to native wildlife, if I would support catch and release.

 I don't feel it is humane, nor is it a good idea, to continue the presence of a non-native predator in our ecosystems. Cats kill vast numbers of birds, rodents, lizards and other small animals. The birds are especially endangered by them. Some have pointed out that the spay/neuter/release programs are setting themselves up for lawsuits due to destruction of endangered species by the cats they re-abandon.

I don't feel there is an answer that is "nice." I wish there were a "responsibility pill" that could be forced on everyone who wants to have a pet or a kid....

Here are some links. It's quite controversial to spay/neuter and release back into the wild.

Veterinarians talk about it

Californian Fish & Game

Florida Parks

If you do an internet search you will come up with quite a bit of information.

 I am not a fan.  In theory, I think it's a good idea, but in practicality, think it's a bad one.  They do hunt.  They do poop in people's flower beds.  They can transmit disease and are more likely to come into contact with humans or "domestic" cats that roam free. (not even going to go there!)  They get hit by cars.

I think that if you have a use for free-roaming cats, then catch and release is fine, but how can you catch them all?  I'm thinking a farm, or even a city where rats would be a bigger problem.  But in my town?  I don't think it's necessary. 

I think it's better than trap and euthanize!  

I also think that there are cases where the cats will not make an adoptable pet and at least it keeps the population from growing.  At the shelter where I just started volunteering there were loads of cages in the cat room EMPTY!  I couldn't believe it.  But it appears that a local group doing TNR appears to be making some progress.  

But I really hate roaming cats.  They get killed on the roads, harmed by sick individuals, and some end up attacked by dogs and other wild animals.  I'd rather see them all inside in homes. 

We do have many people in the area who trap ferals and have them altered, vaccinated, and released. I'm personally not a fan. The outdoors is not nice to cats..they get hit by cars, get into cat fights that lead to abscesses, and many other harmful things. I'd rather see them humanely euthanized than have to watch them suffer from disease or injury first.

i like the theory, but i'm not sold on the effects.

there needs to be a serious, large scale study to assess if its at all successful, or if its just an expensive waste of time.

i think that sometimes, it can work in reducing, at least temporarily, the local feral populations, but the only cases i know of where it has appeared to have worked (according to some acquaintances who work in cat rescue) is where whole colonies of ferals have been captured and neutered, then returned to their "home". can't say i'm sure if small-scale operations would have any major effect.
 

spiral

i think that sometimes, it can work in reducing, at least temporarily, the local feral populations, but the only cases i know of where it has appeared to have worked (according to some acquaintances who work in cat rescue) is where whole colonies of ferals have been captured and neutered, then returned to their "home". can't say i'm sure if small-scale operations would have any major effect.

In our county I have heard estimates that there are 280K owned cats and 200K feral cats.  These numbers came from folks that are heavily involved with the concept of TNR.  I'm sorry but there is no way that any TNR program can work with feral numbers that large unless there was a very large army of folks out there trapping every day. 

Living in an area where the feral cat population is significant, and ground-nesting bird species have been hit pretty hard, I advocate trap and euthanise. I love cats, but that is the way to go when you have large scale problems.

 I don't feel it is humane, nor is it a good idea, to continue the presence of a non-native predator in our ecosystems. Cats kill vast numbers of birds, rodents, lizards and other small animals. The birds are especially endangered by them. Some have pointed out that the spay/neuter/release programs are setting themselves up for lawsuits due to destruction of endangered species by the cats they re-abandon.

Exactly.

I didn't think about their predatory side.    Gah! If people were just more flipping responsible about their pets!!!

But, it's not as though feral cats are something new in the environment! They have been around for years. I have yet to see a shortage of opposums, birds, squirels, rats, mice, ducks, etc.

Most of the cats that are running into traffic, are the domesticated cats that were relased by their owners. All of the outdoor cats in my neighborhood are very friendy. I have nt seen one feral in the past 5-some years I've lived here.

The shelter I work at, where we have the traps set up, backs up to a very large wooded area. There are cats roaming all over the place back there. And our rodent population is very high. We do have a rat problem, pigion problem, and squirel problem. Our caged cats can't do anything about them.