Posted on 07/23/2007 12:13:03 AM PDT by jsh3180
BIG PINE KEY — Traps set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have caught two feral cats so far in Big Pine Key's National Key Deer Refuge.
The trapping program is being conducted by wildlife officials in an effort to protect Big Pine Key's endangered marsh rabbit population. Following months of studies, traps were first set in June in several areas throughout the 84,000-acre refuge.
"To date, two feral cats have been captured and transported to the Big Pine Key Animal Shelter," said Refuge Director Anne Morkill in an e-mail last week. "USDA Wildlife Services will continue trapping for at least a couple more months. No trapping will take place on private property, within residential neighborhoods or in commercialized zones."
The trapping program has sparked debate among wildlife activists in the area. Some thinkfeelthe feral cats are being unjustly targeted in the program, while others worry that domestic cats may get caught up in the traps as well. Several groups, including Whiskers and Paws Forever, have even started raising funds in an attempt to secure a piece of land where tfor the feral cats couldtobe relocated to.
Cats that are trapped — including those that are tagged, notched, tattooed or microchipped — can be retrieved by their owners or adopted from the shelter, subject to county fees, according to Morkill.
"Although habitat loss was responsible for their [the marsh rabbits'] original decline, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that predation by cats may be the greatest current threat to their survival," Morkill said in the statement.
Refuge officials are encouraging pet owners to make sure their cats are properly tagged, so that if they are trapped they can be easily identified by their owners. Both of the feral cats trapped so far have been transported to the Big Pine Key Animal Shelter.
Now those are some RESULTS!
20-million?
There is nothing cuddly or cute about feral cats. Nevermind taking them to a shelter, the authorities ought to give them the needle, then go catch some more. Or shoot them from a safe distance.
Feral cats do not make good pets.
*DieHard*
She was trapped along with her mom and siblings; but she decided she liked humans, and the rest were released after being neutered. She was a bit twitchy at first, even though she likes being petted, but she has turned out to be a very sweet cat... and not as high-strung as some other cats I've had.
Pebbles, our sweet little girl
The idea around here is that they come trap the cats, neuter them, and bring them back to be turned loose. I’d rather trap them, and take them back to town, where they came from, but I have an easier plan. There are 5 or 6 out there right now, on a lot less than 84,000 acres. It’s about SS&S time again.
I love cats, I’ve got one, best friend I have sometimes, but enough is enough.
They have to check those traps down there daily, couple of hours labor, and a 4WD truck. Someone just needs to go in there with a .22 rifle.
> *Some* feral cats (obviously not all) can make good pets, especially if you socialize them young enough.
How many generations feral was your cat? It doesn’t take too many generations in the bush for feral cats to devolve into something you would never want to get anywhere near. Speaking personally, I wouldn’t take that chance.
> I beg to disagree at these horrendous statements!!! >:-(
>
> I have been the ‘mommy’ of 2 feral cats, one now 11 years old, and 1 now 10...it took awhile to get through to them, but now they are the most loving, sweetest cats you’ll ever meet.
Dunno — maybe they don’t have real feral cats in the United States? Looking at your photos, I’d guess that’s what it is, most likely. No extended snout, no bulging eyes, no obvious fangs, looks to be the same size as an ordinary house-cat...
Feral cats don’t usually look like your photos, ma’am — not the ones I’ve seen anyrate.
> Give these animals a chance. If they can’t be reformed, neuter /spay them and put them in a safe place where they can live out the rest of their lives. Blatantly just murdering feral cats is an awful thing to do. :*(
The world of mercy is not large enough for feral cats: sorry, but that’s just how it is. Do you have *any idea* how much damage feral cats do to natural wildlife???
They have been known to drive entire species to near-extinction.
Birds, lizards, snakes, just about anything is fair game for feral cats, and they kill and kill and kill and kill — mostly just for fun, certainly more than what they can reasonably eat. Cats are about the worst thing that ever happened to New Zealand and Australia, from a native wildlife perspective.
Aside from Possums and Stoats and Rats, I can think of no better candidate for wholesale extermination than feral cats. It should be done humanely if possible, but in my view keeping them alive should never be an option.
Cat owners ought to be responsible, and keep their cats under control on their own properties, just like dog owners have to do with their dogs. And more cat owners should give early consideration to sterilizing their cats at an early age.
That way, feral cats just couldn’t happen.
*DieHard*
I wonder if these folks know that marsh rabbits have been dealing with bobcats since before humans & house cats came on the scene and yet, they survived without expensive government spay and neuter programs. The rabbit population probably expanded beyond its norms when bobcat populations fell during development, and now some 'felis domesticus' show up in the place of the original bobcats so the population may be dropping back to old pre-settlement norms. Suddenly need a government program to save bobcat-resistant rabbits from smaller cats?
Did it ever occur to them the marsh rabbit may be declining because of some other factor as well, such as the importation of too many nawtherners, changes in plant cover due to land management or lack thereof, disease, snakes raiding newborn rabbits, the increase in birds of prey, the resurgence of other notable reptiles?
Come to think of it, rabbits were about the worse thing that ever happened to Australia, too.
Perhaps we could export BBQ cat to China... turn them into a hot commodity like pork bellies...
> Come to think of it, rabbits were about the worse thing that ever happened to Australia, too.
We have a huge rabbit problem in New Zealand, too. These are not cuddly bunnies: they are mangy and they have gone seriously feral. My dogs don’t even like eating them.
But barbecued and exported to China? Not a bad idea at all! I bet feral rabbits taste just like feral cat, and feral cat probably tastes something like chicken...
Enough barbecue sauce and they’d be none the wiser! Heck, they think nothing of consuming antifreeze in their toothpaste, and carbolic acid and cardboard and pig fat in their BBQ Pork Buns. Some decent bush tucker would probably sell well in Beijing...
Next, all we’d need to do is convince them that Possum bollix are an effective aphrodesiac...
That accounts in the difference of opinion. I am guessing your feral cats have nothing common with American feral cats. America is not awashed in feral cats. If it were, some might agree with what you have suggested. Living presently in a country that is awash with feral cats (a real and tragic problem), I think the best thing that can be done is rounding them up and disposing of them humanely. When 2 kittens (6 weeks old) were discovered this weekend, those who were interested in their welfare had the same problem. We had already taken three to four stray/ferals into our homes. There really are no organizations to call...
The cats need transported to the Big Pine Animal Shelter in the sky...
The wife of my Liberal boss used to feed a dozen or so feral cats after work. One day, when she turned from putting the food down, the largest male jumped on her back and sank his fangs into her neck. My boss later shot the cat to check for rabies. He told us that Miami-Dade County had a drive-up window for the bodies of rabies-suspect critters—and he received a receipt! (Sir!...Sir! You forgot your receipt!) :)
Anyway, I just bought a place overlooking the refuge. Like much of the area, it's been built upon an elevation only a few feet above high tide. Much of the Refuge would be called "unbuildable". I've never seen rabbit nor feral cat after six years of house-shopping.
Iguanas, however, are more common than sparrows there.
I do not know about New Zealand, but in America there are not a lot of wild members of the Felis genus that will voluntarily interbreed with the housecat (Felis domesticus) to produce less tameable hybrids, analogous to wolf-dog hybrids. Larger wildcats (genus Panthera) definitely cannot interbreed with the house cat. What was caught in the refuge was almost certainly pure Felis domesticus.
....Again.
Bookmarked.
Amen.
I trapped a feral on my jobsite.
It was still young and I brought it home where I have two other cats that I keep in my garage (the car stays outside).
They get along fine and I am very glad that she has had a chance for a good life.
That is something that we can all agree on.
These animals are more a people problem than an animal one.
All pets should be neutered and spayed.
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