Neutered free-ranging cats may not reproduce, but they continue to interact with their surrounding environment, causing a range of concerns, including predation and disease transfer (Barrows, 2004).
(2011) found that communities with more resources to direct to TNR efforts had more success than less affluent communities. In a study in Tel Aviv, Israel, Finkler et al. The success of TNR programs in reducing the number of feral cats has been mixed, however, and high neutering rates (Boone et al., 2019 Coe et al., 2021 Foley et al., 2005 Hostetler et al., 2020 Kreisler et al., 2019) and sometimes additional measures of population reduction (indoor adoption, or in some cases euthanasia Hostetler et al., 2020) are needed. In TNR projects, feral cats are captured, neutered, sometimes vaccinated, and reintroduced to the colony where they were caught (Barrows, 2004 Wolf & Hamilton, 2020). Trap-neuter-return ( TNR) is promoted and widely accepted as a “humane” way of reducing the population of feral cats (Wolf & Hamilton, 2020). Calls for population control of feral cats – in particular, lethal methods – are understandably being met with resistance and appeals for context-specific measures and humane treatment (Lynn et al., 2019 Wandesforde-Smith et al., 2021). As they are forced to integrate with local ecosystems, feral cats are often thought of as victims of circumstance, but also as a threat to native wildlife (Peterson et al., 2012). There are an estimated 60–90 million cats living with humans as companion animals in the US today, but there are an additional 10–50 million feral cats living in outdoor environments, i.e., cats that have minimal or no support from humans (Baker et al., 2010). Today, however, their hunting skills are less in demand. Domestic cats (hereafter “cats”) held these dual roles – companion animal and self-reliant hunter – for millennia.
Genetic evidence suggests that cats were domesticated again in early ancient Egypt, but Egyptian domestic cats were probably tamer and more sociable than the cats domesticated earlier (Ottoni et al., 2017). silvestris libyca) and were tamed by early grain farmers in the “Fertile Crescent” to help control rodents (Ottoni et al., 2017). Keywords: outdoor cats feral cats trap-neuter-return wildlife conservation mesopredatorsĭomestic cats ( Felis catus) are descendants of a subspecies of the wildcat ( F.
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