Humane Society Ignores Science Chooses The Failed Policy of TNR
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 8:40 pmHumane Society of Erie County Ignores Science, Chooses Feral Cats Over Native Wildlife
The Wildlife Society
Erie County, PA --(AmmoLand.com)- The Humane Society of Erie County, like many municipalities, has adopted Trap, Neuter and Release as a method for managing feral cats, even though science tells us that TNR is ineffective in reducing feral cat populations, exceptionally cruel for the cats in question and that such programs take a tremendous toll on native wildlife, including migratory birds and small mammals (see Langhorn, T., Rich, C., and Sullivan, L.W. 2009. Critical assessment of claims regarding management of feral cats by trap-neuter-return. Conservation Biology 23: 887-894).
When are municipalities and their local humane societies going to get a clue?
When will they have the courage to make the hard decisions?
When are state and federal wildlife agencies responsible for conserving our native wildlife going to take municipalities to court under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Migratory Bird Act and other federal legislation protecting native wildlife? Predation by managed feral cat colonies on protected species should be considered a “take” under the ESA and other legislation. From this perspective, what cat colony mangers are doing is illegal and should not be tolerated.
When are conservationists going to take action against this ill-advised practice, which has shown to be ineffective in reducing the numbers of feral cats?
The Human Society of Erie and the Humane Society of the United States (that also supports TNR) should be ashamed of themselves for promoting a failed policy which, although it may make them feel good about themselves (and helps them raise money from unsuspecting donors who also want to feel good about themselves), is an unmitigated disaster for our native wildlife. TNR is a policy that helps people avoid the hard decisions regarding feral cats, but in the end, is actually less compassionate and less humane than the alternative.
Conservation organizations and individuals who truely care about the future of life on this planet must come together to oppose TNR as anti-conservation and inhumane. Feral cats are non-native predators which exact a tremendous toll on native wildlife. Combined with other factors, such as habitat loss and pollution, they have the potential to push many species to the brink of extinction.
About:
The Wildlife Society (TWS), founded in 1937, is an international non-profit scientific and educational association dedicated to excellence in wildlife stewardship through science and education.
Our mission is to represent and serve the professional community of scientists, managers, educators, technicians, planners, and others who work actively to study, manage, and conserve wildlife and its habitats worldwide.
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Cats multiply faster than animal control can kill them. Most people will not turn in stray and feral cats because they KNOW they will get killed in the pound-most do not want to kill cats so they leave them be. Though I’m not crazy about the notion of Trap-Neuter-Release, regardless whether or not you agree with it, STRAYS AND FERALS WILL BE THERE. If you tell people bring in your strays and ferals to be sterilized with the promise they WILL be returned unharmed, I guarantee a lot more people are going to be turning in cats. So instead of having BREEDING FERTILE CATS roaming about, you will have sterile cats roaming about. Which would you prefer?
That is how TNR works and THAT is EXACTLY why it should be a part of every county. Because those strays and ferals are not going away. I guarantee the problem will be reduced if you promise to return them unharmed.
Each State should have a low cost_free spay/neuter law that collects a surcharge of $5 per animal cruelty and animal ordinance violation to fund low cost and free spay/neutering. ALSO a voluntary check mark on renewing driver’s license to donate a dollar toward free spay/neutering. To have this bill proposed in your State simply sign this Petition to automatically email your State law maker of this brilliant bill, which will be filed in January 2010 in Florida, can be for YOUR state too!
http://animalrights.change.org/actions/view/affordable_spayneuter_bill_for_cats_and_dogs
PS-it’s so convenient that cats are always blamed for the demise of birds when cats have been around even during the Ancient Egyptian times and strange birds were unaffected. We have industrialized POLLUTION and humans rape the land for development. Birds are VERY sensitive to the environment and that has absolutely everything to do with the decrease in bird populations. In China there are simply NO song birds anywhere-the pollution killed them all. THAT IS A FACT (and the cat population is low because Chinese eat cats and that is a fact).
Feral cat apologists are simply wrong. Sure there are many other factors that may cause a decline in bird populations, such as pollution, habitat loss, and unsustainable use. However, it is the COMBINED IMPACTS of these factors along with introduced predators and competitors, like feral cats and invasive bird species, that we should be worried about. We know that feral cats kill vast numbers of birds and other animals, including threatened and endangered species. Furthermore, we also know that these deaths are often painful and cruel, so why should feral cats be tolerated? As a conservationist, I’m going to continue to educate people about the ecological tragedy of feral cats. Who will speak for our native wildlife and their right to exist?
There are no song birds in China because the Chinese eat them, use them for medicinal purposes (been to a Chinese market lately?) capture them for pets (been to a bird market?), and destroy their habitats (seen the level of development and disregard for environmental issues there?). The fact that they also eat cats is irrelevant. There weren’t any birds around for the feral cats to eat anyway. If we don’t start dealing with the combined impacts of introduced species, unsustainable use, habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, and pollution, the United States can be just like China–totally devoid of its native birds. I, for one, don’t want that to happen.
Cats have been around for thousands of years, but the population explosion has only been in the last 3 or 4 decades – and in that same time frame, songbirds have declined precipitously.
And get a load of this: a black bear from West Milford NJ died from toxoplasmosis recently. Now the town of West Milford is getting ready to legalize TNR! How clueless is that!
For more info on the black bear and toxo visit the link and click on Failure in Point Pleasant Beach.
Sorry, but the science does not support your erroneous claims that TNR reduces the size of feral cat populations. Control of feral cats is going to take a mix of sterilization, neutering, owner education, and lethal control.
Please read Langhorne, T, Rich, C., and Sullivan, L.M. (2009) Critical assessment of claims regarding management of feral cats by trap-neuter-return. Conservation Biology 23 (4): 887-894. Its review of studies that have been conducted on TNR managed cat colonies clearly indicate that TNR is unsuccessful at reducing the number of feral cats.
Its time to explode the myth that TNR is a successful management tool–it is not. Quit relying on anecdotal arguments and look at the facts.
Cats are non-native, invasive predators and they must be controlled on our landscapes. Our native wildlife will thank you for it. Even PETA, among the most vociferous of all animal rights groups, is now arguing for live trapping and euthanasia as a method to control feral cat populations. Their arguments are based on animal welfare, not conservation concerns, in that they believe that feral cats would be better off dead (suffer less) in the absence of human care.
By the way, euthanasia is a widely accepted (by the AVMA and others) and humane way to help deal with this problem. Its already done to millions of unwanted dogs and cats in the U.S. annually, so why not feral cats? Sad though it is, this problem is caused by irresponsible humans, including those who think that letting cats and dogs run free is preferable to euthanasia.
But its not, especially given the toll it takes on our native wildlife and the fact that feral dogs and cats have short, miserable lives. Let’s start using some commonsense, science, and rationality here.
Trap-neuter-return is the only proven method that over time will result in a substantial decline in feral cat populations through the natural process of attrition. See e.g. Levy, Evaluation of the effect of a long-term trap-neuter-return and adoption program, 222 J.Am.Vet. Med. Assn. 42 (2003).
Trap and kill has been proven NOT to result in long-term reductions of feral cat populations because the surviving cats will simply rebound to fill the vacuum left by the exterminated cats.
Moreover, cats are not to blame for the decline in songbird populations. Another animal is to blame, and that animal is us humans. We have destroyed the winter and summer habitats of birds, we have fouled the water, air, and earth with pollution and pesticide, we have built wind turbines and glass skyscrapers, and we have as a result decimated the population of songbirds.
Cats have little if any impact on their numbers. Don’t blame the cats. Blame yourself. Let’s indeed use commonsense and rationality here. Anyone with an ounce of gray matter can see where the true blame lies.
It’s a matter of admitting it, that’s all, and those who would point the finger of blame at, of all things, a cat truly have their heads in the sand.
Until we own up to our own responsiblity for the approaching extinction of thousands of bird and animal species in the not too distant future, we don’t stand a chance of truly reforming public policy to prevent the devastation of this planet and protect the birds and animals who share it with us.
Step 1: remove all food left outdoors for feral cats. Outdoor food should only be provided during the course of trapping them. Enforce penalties for feeding animals that are not yours.
* This is because, without artificial food bonanzas, feral cat populations would not explode. Control efforts would stand a chance.
Step 2: trap cats and euthanize those that do not turn out to be someone’s pet (who would get a fine). Allow citizens to trap feral cats (as with other invasive, alien species) and allow animal control officers to respond to citizen complaints to try and trap all strays possible.
Step 3: legalize cat “varmint” hunting in rural areas. Feral housecats are some of the worst predators there are for Bobwhite Quail. Bad news for Clapper Rail chicks too. Allow state game agencies to regulate “cat varmint depredation” on public and private game lands – just like Coyotes, Armadillos, feral pigs, etc.
Once again, please read the article in Conservation Biology that I referred to. It reviews all of the current studies on TNR’s purported effectiveness in reducing feral cat populations. The evidence that TNR reduces the number of feral cats is simply not there! That is why The Wildlife Society–an organization representing nearly 9,000 wildlife professionals–has a very strong policy on the control of feral cat populations. I never argued that live capture and euthanisia of feral cats should be the only method employed; tackling this problem will involve using all of the tools in our toolbox, including both lethal and non-lethal methods, as well as public education. I agree that human activities are the culprit when it comes to the loss of our native birds–and one of these detrimental activities has been the introduction of non-native predators, such as feral cats. We must begin to correct this situation.
Have you ever watched a feral cat kill its prey? I observed one killing a chipmunk in my neighborhood a couple of summers ago. (I have also seen feral cats preying on threatened and endangered species in the Galapagos Islands and Australia). The cat bit the hapless rodent on the back or neck, which paralyzed its rear legs. The poor rodent desperately attempted to escape by climbing a tree using just its forelegs; its rear legs were dangling helplessly behind. The cat played with its suffering prey for at least 20 minutes. Where is the concern for the welfare of the millions of birds and small mammals killed by feral cats annually? Who will speak for them?
Vsmith where is the proof for this statement?
“Trap and kill has been proven NOT to result in long-term reductions of feral cat populations because the surviving cats will simply rebound to fill the vacuum left by the exterminated cats.”
The reality is that if the food source is removed and the cats – the problem is solved – no vacuum effect. See Winter 2004.
As for the paper you cited from 2003, reductions in individual colonies do not indicate anything about the overall population within an area (i.e. municipality, county, etc.). Further, campus settings are unique and unlike typical urban, suburban or rural areas.
Levy et al. (2003) surveyed cat colonies in a TNR program combined with intensive removal efforts on a Florida university campus between 1996 and 2002, reporting a decline from 68 to 23 cats. In this case, 47% of the cats were permanently removed rather than returned to the site. Removal efforts and deaths and disappearances of cats were partially offset by new immigration, and the authors noted that: “free-roaming cats do not appear to have sufficient territorial activity to prevent new arrivals from permanently joining colonies.”
You listed many different anthropogenic causes of wildife mortality – and cats are included in that. They are near the top of the list!
Humans are the problem – and when a HUMAN allows his/her pet to roam, or dumps one, or releases one through TNR, that HUMAN is further degrading habitat.
Whether you love or loathe cats, TNR does work…..I know it is a difficult concept for many to wrap their heads around and some would rather hold onto their cat-hatred as an excuse to justify repeated eradication. The truth is, killing them just doesn’t work. That is why municipalities are approving TNR over and over across the country…….because when you really look at both methods, TNR simply makes sense and is more effective at reducing cat numbers in communities. It is interesting that so many bird lovers oppose TNR, because if you truly wanted to see fewer birds killed then you should endorse TNR.
Christine:
Once again you are just repeating the same old falsehoods.
Where is your proof that TNR works?
There seems to be none, but on the other hand science has proven that TNR is not working and you are actually causing more pain and suffering for the cats you say you wish to protect.
Why don’t TNR groups have real science done to prove their claims? All I can guess is they can not face the truths or know that it can not be proven.
TNR is a failed policy that hurts everyone involved especially the cats.
Christine, the concept of TNR is not difficult. TNR sounds good on the surface, but the reality is that TNR does not work. TNR takes place in an open system. Further, opposing a method does not mean one opposes the cats. I am opposed to TNR – I do not hate cats.
FYI, the reason some municipalities are approving TNR are as follows:
-ignorance
-the perception of cost savings
-political image – don’t want to be the town that ‘kills the kitties’
They are not approving it because ‘it works’ – reduced rates of euthanasia or less nuisance phone calls to the town (which are simply re-directed to cat caregivers) do not mean TNR has done a darn thing to reduce the outdoor population of ferals.
If TNR resulted in the reduction of millions of cats rather than just a drop in the bucket – then we’d all be for it. It does not. It most certainly does not help wildlife – it is the scourge of nature.
How in the world can you expect TNR to help birds when cats hunt regardless of hunger and when cats are always present cause these colonies are perpetually maintained?
Sheer ridiculousness. Bass ackwards.