Big Cats As Pets

Feral Cats And The Trap, Neuter, & Return Program

It wasn't until my neighbor caused a population explosion of feral cats on our block, that I first heard of the Trap/Neuter/Return animal rescue program. This fairly new program had an interesting philosophy behind it. Rather than capturing and destroying feral cat populations (that is, domesticated cats that had reverted to a state of wildness), TNR rescue workers felt it was more humane to neuter the animals and return them back to their territory.

The idea behind TNR is that once feral cats are spayed, that annoying behavior we've come to expect with feral cats drops off significantly. The cat fights, the yowling, the territorial spraying, and unwanted litters of kittens pretty much grinds to a halt. For most of us, that's one of the big reasons we want to get rid of those stray cats in the first place. But after we've trapped them, why not just get rid of them and be done? TNR advocates note that cats are territorial and once they've entrenched themselves in an area, they will keep other feral cats away from their turf. Trap and kill the existing feral cats and a whole new bunch of stray cats will move in to take up the yowling. Having a colony of neutered feral cats in the alley will keep away the troublemakers who aren't neutered.

When the program was first explained to me, I thought the TNR rescue person was totally nuts. I wanted to get rid of the 100 feral cats living on our block, not spay them and let them loose again. From my experience with many of these animals dying from starvation or disease, I could see there clearly wasn't enough food to sustain all those kitties. In the end, 80 of the sickly cats were trapped and delivered to the pound with the remaining 20 or so trapped, neutered and released back into the neighborhood.

So what happened?

The first year, about 17 of the TNR cats disappeared. Since I knew no one else was trapping them, we assumed they were either killed or moved elsewhere.

By year two, one of the cats established himself as the leader of the block. The remaining two or three feral cats also hit the road and disappeared.

Since then, our lone TNR has managed to drive off every stray cat that chances to saunter through the alley. But old "Ghost" as we call him, has somehow unconditionally accepted the rest of the house cats on the block as belonging to "his" colony and will play with them, rather than getting into cat fights. He still distrusts humans, however (can you blame him!) and will quickly race back to his alley whenever someone steps outdoors.

In addition to keeping out stray cats, Ghost catches alley mice, eats dead birds, helps keep the squirrel population in check, and scarfs down the garbage that carelessly get tossed in the alley. Yes, I'll admit it. Trap, Neuter, and Return really does work, even though it's totally counterintuitive to what we regard as "animal control."

In San Francisco, the TNR program has contributed to a 71% decrease in cat euthanasia. In San Diego where the program is also being used, less cats are turning up at the shelters and having to be put down (source: www.neighborhoodcats.org). Trap, Neuter, and Return really does seem to be the best way to control feral cat populations and preventing others from moving in.

The challenge of the program is who pays to get the animals spayed. In some cities, local vets will donate their time for TNR neutering but it appears that more typically TNR advocates have to pay a neutering fee. The best place to check to see if this program is available in your town is through the local Humane Society. For more information about feral cats and the Trap/Neuter/Release program, check out this link for the home page of Neighborhood Cats.