Posted on 09/27/2009 8:17:57 AM PDT by JoeProBono
It is estimated that there are about 60 to 100 million feral cats in the United States according to recent information provided by Alley Cat Rescue. These are very high numbers but can be reduced, and should be, by trapping the cats and having them spayed or neutered.
Alley Cat Rescue also estimates there may be about 17 million people feeding about 35 million feral and stray cats in this country. Thank goodness for the people who help care for the ferals and strays. Unfortunately, there are too many people who could help decrease the feral cat population who simply do not want to be involved.
Feral cats are often found on college campuses and on military bases where students or military personnel abandon the cats when they move. It is hard to understand why anyone would feed and take care of cats or dogs and when they graduate or transfer, they just pack up and instead of making arrangements for the animals, the people move on, leaving the hapless animals to fend for themselves.
Virtually every city, whether large or small, will have colonies of feral cats around restaurant parking lots, hotels, parks and even campgrounds that are food sources.
This column has provided several articles about feral cats, so many readers already know what a feral cat is. In the event you may not know, a feral cat is described as a wild, undomesticated, cat that is not accustomed to being around people. They are not like the occasional stray cat wandering the streets, hoping for a tasty handout. A stray cat may have wandered from its yard, become lost, and is not yet afraid of people.
This Remington Model 12 Pump was the one I used for most of my life. I found one in an estate sale that was mint and decided to put it away and shoot the Ruger.
I’ve had cats. Spot and I prefer living without them. But, I have two old ferals living here in abandoned cabins nearby. They know where I throw the pork and chicken bones I don’t want Spot to ingest. He likes tenderloin, anyway. We live by an 8600 acre WMA with bear, deer, grouse, coyote, et al.
<p.I run across “nature” every day. Bears do crap in the woods...
Everyone's least favorite cat enthusiast, Anthony Appolonia, was sentenced to 5 years on Dec 4 by a Superior Court judge before a mixture of tearful cat-lovers, court employees and the media. The jail term will be served at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution. The judge found Appolonia guilty on 19 seperate counts of animal cruelty; the maximum penalty of each charge will run concurrently.
Here is my pheasant gun, the Remington 870 410. Only hits them with half the bb's. Might work on the feral cats too. LOL
A sweet gun. As a kid we would hide in the back of the dairy barn and pick off the pheasants in the hay field at about 100 yards. Just needed to give it about two inches float above their heads. Got them in the eye every time. LOL
I keep a S&W .22 when walking with Spot in the woods. Nobody can see it.
I believe a good answer would be a drug - embedded in food that would chemically sterilize them (either male or female or both)... Then allow them to continue compete in their local semi-wild environment for food and territory... helping to keep the population in check via food competition. This would greatly reduce the population of feral cats over 5 to 10 years... There are problems with this idea - but the problems could be worked out...
As a side note — I have had two cats father and daughter) who displayed feral behavior - even though both had been totally domestic and pampered all their lives from the time they were born ... Yet they displayed the wariness and suspicion of humans to the extreme just as feral cats do. They were not necessarily mean but could not be handled... I have had many cats over the years - observed and adopted quite a few feral cats - so I know the difference in behavior... The daughter is still alive and she bobs and weaves when I attempt to touch her and nips my hand... Many cats display some of this behavior but not to this extreme.... I believe feral behavior is largely due to a gene that gets turned on when the cats encounters dire conditions of survival. And may accidentally get turned on due to an unknown condition or set of conditions.
Toyger Kittens
I trapped and spayed/vaccinated two feral cats who had set up housekeeping in my barn and had kittens. I captured and took the kittens, kept three, all spay/neutered, and their mothers too, are still around. I provide a safe place for them and good food. It’s probably still a harder, shorter life than a domestic cat, but we do the best we can. By spaying them and releasing them back, they keep the mice down without overpopulating us with cats.
Wow, you would use a 3006 to shoot cats? Aint that overkill? Kind of like using Neutron weapons to kill termites.
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