Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Feral cats: big problem

The metro area may have 100,000 untamed cats. Trap-neuter-return efforts counter overpopulation.

GREG MARSHALL

Tucson Citizen

When Elizabeth Spinney found two feral cats skirting her workplace in spring 2004, she did what more and more people in Tucson are doing:

She caught them, got them "fixed" and returned them to where she caught them.

"The little cats had been thrown away like trash," Spinney said. "It's heart-wrenching."

Metro Tucson has 100,000 feral cats, one shelter director estimated, though the numbers are difficult to quantify. That's one feral cat for every nine residents.

Considering that in a year, a cat can have three litters of up to six kittens each, feral cats can be a major annoyance in a neighborhood and a lethal threat to pet cats.

Free-roaming cats are more likely than indoor cats to carry rabies, because they prey on bats that may be infected, as well as other diseases, such as feline leukemia. Those diseases can be passed to pet cats.

Plus, Fluffy likely would be no match for an unfixed tomcat in a fight.

Feral cats also are notorious for, among other things, urinating on and otherwise marking people's property. They can destroy gardens and kids' sandboxes by using them as outdoor litter boxes. And Wildlife and ornithology organizations believe these stealthy predators decimate bird populations.

As co-owner of Animal Experts Wildlife Rescue and Trapping Services, Marc Hammond says he most often chases feral cats around downtown and the Northwest Side.

Last week, Hammond removed 50 feral cats from neighborhoods, back yards and streets at customer's requests.

Most of the felines he captures are euthanized at the client's request, although a few each month are trapped, neutered and returned.

"It's a shame people don't take care of their pets," said Hammond, who has worked at Pima Animal Care Center for 22 years.

Like Spinney, many people in Tucson are trying the trap-neuter-return method to control feral cat populations. But the Humane Society of Southern Arizona reduced its TNR program in April after slightly more than a year because it was overwhelmed with demand.

The society still provides traps and training in how to use them, if you want to trap a feral cat and get it spayed or neutered elsewhere. But it does not accept feral cats.

As the number of feral cats continues to grow, more and more private veterinary clinics, grass-roots organizations and individuals offer trap- neuter-return programs.

Mary Phelan, a cook at a University of Arizona fraternity house, has independently trapped and released cats in Tucson for 16 years.

She estimates she has taken 400 feral cats to be fixed at agencies.

This unusually busy summer accounted for 150 of those.

"Trap-neuter-return has worked in every (neighborhood) I've done it," said Phelan, who said she doesn't have a "feverish" love of cats. "People don't mind two cats hanging around their house. They just don't want litter after litter."

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