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Killing is Not The Answer

I saw a poster recently that had a picture of a feral cat and it said, “I have been living outside for 7 years… I am not homeless.” The Lynchburg Humane Society made a bold decision this year to stop taking in feral (wild) cats, except in extreme circumstances.  While we still accept feral kittens for rehabilitation, we were euthanizing the adults; it was something that made the people trapping them feel good but did nothing to solve their problem. Studies and actual accounts in Lynchburg have shown that this method of trapping and killing is not effective.  Due to something called the “vacuum effect,” the cats that remain around the food source will continue to reproduce at an alarming rate in order to compensate for the cats removed.  For example, one local business brought us 11 feral cats last year when we were still taking them in.  This year they showed back up claiming they now had to bring us 15 feral cats.  Because they never removed the food source and did not catch all the cats originally, they had more feral cats the next year.  Our City Cat Fix is designed to fix this problem.  We will show you how to trap them, fix them for free and provide rabies shots. All you have to do is continue to provide the food they require.  This will keep other cats from entering into their territory and the colony should die out over time. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 17, 2011 at 2:00 PM

    A good decision!

    Example of a city's website about feral (community) cats and TNR. The city pays for TNR as it is cost-effective and successful. They do TNR in neighbourhoods & areas that want their help. (Some or all) money for TNR comes from pet license fees.

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