Question:
Taken from the PETA Media Center:
Because of the huge number of feral cats and the severe shortage of good homes, the difficulty of socialization, and the dangers lurking where most feral cats live, it may be necessary and the most compassionate choice to euthanize feral cats. You can ask your veterinarian to do this or, if your local shelter uses an injection of sodium pentobarbital, take the cats there. Please do not allow the prospect of euthanasia to deter you from trapping cats. If you leave them where they are, they will almost certainly die a painful death. A painless injection is far kinder than any fate that feral cats will meet if left to survive on their own.
Do you think that euthaniasia is a much better option for feral cats that cannot be rehabilitated enough to be adopted than to focus efforts in TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) programs for feral cats?
I am not saying that the outside world is a bed of roses for feral cats, but I'm not so sure that death is better than living their life in the wild. I have never met a feral cat and I am sure the stray cats hanging around apartments and my school are not considered feral. So is a feral cat put in the same category as a wild cat such as a tiger? Or cougar?


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what is a feral cat


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I'm not really sure either


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A feral cat has never had human contact. We get ferals trapped and brought to our shelter all the time. We have a Feral Cat Program where we spay or neuter them, vaccinate, microchip and release them in the same place. If the Feral Colony is being monitored and the cats are being fed regularly (so they don't kill birds etc) then I think that is a fine alternative. If nobody is willing to care for them then I think they should be euthanized so that they stop multiplying...
Alot of the ferals have contagious diseases and absesses from fighting... unkind humans take matters into their own hands and abuse them when they get fed up with them using their gardens for a litterbox...so I do agree that it's more humane to euthanize them IMO...
If the cat isn't socialized before 3 months of age, it's pretty hopeless to make them into a pet that can be friendly...
CJ- If the cats hanging around your apartment run away at the 1st sight of you... they probably are feral. If you can approach them and pet them or if they come up to you, then they're not true ferals.


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I agree with PETA's stance on feral cats -- not only is it better for the animal, it also saves a community from a lot problems (threat of rabies; noise from fighting; feces; etc.). What's sad is that most feral colonies are started by abandoned, unfixed pet cats.


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A group here in the Valley (WAAG) is starting an outdoor feral cat reserve, where the anmimals will be fed, sheltered (ie. given little huts or something with bales of hay inside) & recieve veterinary care. It is a very expensive proposal & not everyone supports it.
I too agree that euthanasia is preferable to a life of misery: being beaten up, hit by cars (& not necessarily killed instantly ), starved, freezing, etc.


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Click2Houston.com
Cat Population Cure Strikes Controversy
Animal Control Dislikes Humane Groups' 'Trap, Neuter, Release' Process
POSTED: 10:45 a.m. CDT October 16, 2003
UPDATED: 10:56 a.m. CDT October 16, 2003
HOUSTON -- It's a problem in neighborhoods across the city -- packs of wild cats that continue to multiply.


Reproduction Cure Safely Benefits Feral Feline Colonies


Harris County and the city of Houston have now made it illegal to feed feral felines. The law will also put any wild cat captured to sleep. But, some local humane groups say there is an easier and more humane way to curb the pet problem.
A feral colony manager is an individual who takes care of a group of wild cats.
"Those individuals are dedicated to eliminating the reproduction in the colony and also allowing those animals to safely live out their lives," one colony manager said.
Feral cats are not adoptable so colony managers do what is called "Trap, Neuter and Release," using humane traps to capture a cat. It is then fixed and returned to the colony.
"If you don't alter the feral cats then the colonies keep growing and growing and there is more kitty misery out there," All Cats Veterinary Clinic Dr. Cynthia Rigoni said.
Colony managers say the process is humane. Animal Control calls it illegal.
"Truly feral cats have to be euthanized," Harris County Animal Control spokeswoman Colleen Hodges said.
In Houston and Harris County it is against the law to maintain animals that run loose.
"That is not something you want to chase around and prosecute people for. But on the other hand, (the animals) can't cause a danger to the public or a public health situation, or even a nuisance," Hodges said.
But, not everyone agrees that getting rid of all roaming cats is a good thing.
"If you don't have some of them out there then you have other things that come up because they are little predators," Rigoni said.
Venice, Italy, was so successful at getting rid of its feral colonies it ended up with another problem -- rats. So advocates for "Trap, Neuter and Release" say rather than killing cats it is best to prevent reproduction.
"You come across colonies of animals that are reproducing at a very rapid rate. In Houston, a female cat can have three liters in a year ," H.O.P.E. Animal Rescue founder Paula Kokoris said.
Kokoris said a cat doesn't have to die to curb overpopulation.
"Once you have spayed and neutered everybody then you have a very stable population. The animals tend to only live a few years," Kokoris said.
The colony manager News2Houston spoke with agreed. He said the colony he has fed for four years has shrunk from 30 to four cats.
Two other causes of the cat population problem are abandoned cats and ones that are allowed to roam free.
Animal Spay-Neuter Web Sites::
Homeless Pets.net
SNAP: Spay-Neuter Assistance Program
Low-Cost Spay Neuter Program
Harris County Animal Control
Copyright 2003 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Taken from: http://www.click2houston.com/news/2558853/detail.html
Just putting this article here for reference. This quote made me think: Venice, Italy, was so successful at getting rid of its feral colonies it ended up with another problem -- rats. So advocates for "Trap, Neuter and Release" say rather than killing cats it is best to prevent reproduction.
Simply killing off the feral cat population could lead to another imbalance in the ecosystem.


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I also advocate the trap, neuter, release method as opposed to euthanizing. In most cases, the cats do not need to be fed and a lot of times, the ferals cause problems for neighbors which in turn leads to people calling animal control. This usually results in euthanizing the animals. The only over-population occuring is because the cats just breed and breed and breed. So neutering usually solves the overpopulation and the colonies can stay alive.