I have always thought that the neuter-and-release programs are idiotic and inhumane.
I sort of agree. Jackson and TNR advocates argue that unless the environment is changed (ie food source and shelters removed) it more expensive to continually trap and euthanize more and more cats than to alter the cats and maintain a stable colony over a longer period. But unless you are setting up a semi protected sanctuary type situation, trap and return doesn’t take into consideration the quality of life for the animals living in the face of an array of dangers and diseases at all.
Our feral pet problem came almost entirely from snowbirds and other seasonal people turning them loose in the RV parks and woods, so that in a generation or two they were feral. Neuter and release has worked well here, especially since the tourists can’t afford the gas to get here now-we don’t even have half the feral felines we had three years ago-and the wild predators get the ones that are not very smart.
I don’t hold with shooting cats, especially after trapping them-I have no problem hunting deer-not at a feeder, or trapped-that just does not seem humane to me.