National Feral Cat Day 2015 — The Evolution of the Cat Revolution

NFCD2015_1020x230Do you have feral (also called community) cats in your neighborhood? I know we do. There are feral cat colonies all over the world. Some areas embrace these cats and truly treat them as “community” cats. In other places, they are hunted down and taken to shelters where they are killed because they are not socialized to people and are therefore unadoptable.

This outdated method of managing feral colonies is cruel and it doesn’t work. Cats live in an area where there is a food source and shelter. When cats are removed from an area, others just move in.

Eartipped community cat from Alley Cat AlliesTrapping these feral cats and killing them was not solving or even making a dent in the problem so Alley Cat Allies came up with a better idea. In 2001, they launched their Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program. This humane method of managing community cats is the only way to stabilize feral colonies. Spayed or neutered and vaccinated cats are returned to their original location. No kittens are born and the colony doesn’t grow.

Hundreds of cities and towns are now carrying out successful programs but in the majority of cities, feral cats are still brought to local shelters where they are killed. About 70% of cats who enter shelters are killed there, including virtually 100% of feral cats. What a sad statistic!

Opponents of feral colonies have tried to blame cats for wildlife and bird deaths. Some studies Eartip poster from Alley Cat Allies - feral cat dayclaim that cats kill 3-4 billion birds a year. Although that sounds like a lot (if it is even close to accurate), another study shows that 988 million birds die from crashing into windows! Studies and statistics can be skewed, as most of you know. The real danger to birds are humans, just like they are to feral cats. Studies show that the overwhelming causes of wildlife and bird death are habitat loss, urbanization, pollution, and environmental degradation—all caused by people, not community cats.

The feral cat issue is the result of irresponsible pet ownership. Until all pet cats are spayed or neutered, unwanted cats and kittens that are turned out will continue to add to the problem. National Feral Cat Day is a day of awareness and activism for community cats. You can be a part of the solution by sharing this post and the information available at Alley Cat Allies.

https://youtu.be/njf5qerhFE4

You can read what I wrote last year about National Feral Cat Day by clicking here.

Your ADVO-Cat for ferals,

Christy Paws

Stop blaming cats: As many as 988 million birds die annually in window collisions

Spread the love
Tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

9 Responses to National Feral Cat Day 2015 — The Evolution of the Cat Revolution

  1. Emma says:

    It’s very nice of you to think about feral cats living in the wild. Great website by the way. Love the font you use!

  2. Great post ! Feral cats need and deserve our help. Purrs

  3. Very well said, Christy. They all want to put the blame on others instead of looking at themselves…and unbelievable how many people walk along with the mass 🙁 Granny says, every feral is welcome to stay at our place 🙂 Pawkisses for a wonderful weekend and good luck to all our outside furriends 🙂 <3

  4. Ellen Pilch says:

    Great post. Poor feral cats have such tough lives, I wish more people would try to help them.

  5. Great post! We purr that more humans will help the feral kitties instead of turning a blind eye to them.

  6. Marg says:

    Great post. It is exciting to me to see so many people talking about the feral cats and that they can be helped. They do make very nice pets.

  7. Pawsum posty. Weez purray da day comes when all cats have luvvin’ homes and da feral colonies awe no more cuz no more kitties awe frown out.

    Luv ya’

    Dezi and Lexi

  8. meowmeowmans says:

    Thanks for helping spread the important news about feral cats, and how we can help them!

  9. Summer says:

    What an awesome post – we all need to stand up for our feral pals!