|
Curbing
feral cat colonies a tough job
|
|
PALM COAST -- Everyone held still as the
silver and white cat cautiously approached the bait in the steel cage.
"Come on Prancie," Bob Whitaker mumbled. "You are too young to have
any more babies." The green-eyed feral cat living near the
Intracoastal Waterway crept toward the cage again. This time she stepped far
enough in to hit the spring that closed the trap door behind her. Four
voices, all volunteers with Second Chance Cat Rescue, cheered -- another cat
trapped to be neutered and released, another small dent in Flagler County's
feral cat problem. Locally, estimating the number of stray and feral cats is difficult, but wildlife officials put the number of free-roaming and feral cats in the state at 5.3 million. Virtually everyone agrees that's a problem -- for the cats, wildlife and people who live near feral colonies. But the volunteers' approach to the problem -- reducing the size of colonies through birth control but allowing existing cats to live out their lives in freedom -- is opposed by many. Nonetheless, the band of volunteers is trying to persuade officials in Flagler County and its cities to make it the primary method of feral cat control. In Volusia County, officials have been struggling to solve the feral cat problem through more conventional means. Many of the cats are members -- or descendants -- of unwanted litters that pet owners have abandoned. In 2002, The County Council adopted a universal-tag ordinance to encourage spaying or neutering of pets and collect fees to provide subsidies for owners wanting to do it. But the county tied implementation of the program in each city to municipal approval and few cities have enacted it. Mari Molina, founder of Second Chance, and her volunteers believe trap-neuter-return programs are more effective. Her group traps cats and has them evaluated, vaccinated and sterilized by a veterinarian before returning them to their surroundings. Like 23 cats before her, Prancie will be sterilized and returned to the scenic spot near the Hammock Dunes bridge.Normally when local officials receive a complaint they trap the wild cats and take them to humane societies. If a cat can't be adopted or relocated to a sanctuary, it will be killed. It's a practice Molina is hoping to change, at least in Flagler County. "I just don't see any need to trap and kill them," Molina said. "I understand that the Humane Society doesn't have the money and the time to put into a feral cat, but if the cat stays where it is, I don't see why we should kill it." She's already spoken to Bunnell's City Commission and on Aug. 2 she'll go before the Flagler County Commission. The theory is that because the cats are no longer reproducing, the colony will diminish in size. Without the struggle to reproduce, the colony sees less fighting and aggression and becomes more stable, volunteers said. Whitaker and his wife, Karen, said they've seen it happen in the four colonies, about 60 cats, they care for near the Hammock Dunes bridge. "The cats are so much calmer now," Karen Whitaker said. "The females will come and rub against your leg. It has made the colony so much calmer. The hormones aren't kicking in." The Whitakers and Molina know that getting the county to adopt their philosophy isn't going to be easy. "It's a long dragged out process, and it doesn't happen overnight," Molina said. In fact state and most local laws favor more direct methods of eliminating feral colonies. Last year in Ormond Beach, the City Commission passed a law that fined people for feeding feral cats, and the Flagler Beach city code prevents people from releasing the cats. Amy Wade-Carotenuto, who as director of the Flagler County Humane Society deals with more than 4,000 animals a year, said some view her group as the bad guy because it euthanizes animals as a last resort. But she said people won't adopt feral cats. "People want (pets) that will cuddle up to them," she said. Wade-Carotenuto said while euthanasia isn't the perfect solution, neither is the trap, neuter and return plan, especially when cats are released in an area where they aren't wanted. "(People) shoot them. I have seen them trapped and drowned," she said. "There are worse things than humanely, quietly falling asleep. We see the injuries that come in." Molina said she, too, has seen the cruelty, but believes it's better for a cat to be returned to its colony. The group will, however, relocate a cat if it isn't wanted. Relocated cats are taken to Cat Tail Corner, a sanctuary near Barberville in Volusia County, but Molina said one her groups' long-term goals is a sanctuary in Flagler County. Wade-Carotenuto said environmental factors also must be considered. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission adopted a policy last year to remove feral cats from conservation land. They could be adopted, given to a contained feline colony or euthanized. Wildlife officials say the cats prey on Florida's endangered species such as the Lower Keys marsh rabbit, the Key Largo cotton mouse, sea turtles and six types of beach mice. Lora Smith, a local wildlife rehabilitation specialist who holds both federal and state permits for her work, said she has seen the damage cats can do and doesn't support the release program. "So many injuries small birds get are caused by cats," she said. "I have to deal with the injuries. I love all animals. I just don't think it's good to (have a release program)." While Wade-Carotenuto said cats are one of the few animals that kill even on a full stomach, neither Karen nor Bob Whitaker have seen evidence of that in nearly six years of tending to feral cats. "I have never seen a dead bird here," Karen Whitaker said. The one thing everyone interviewed agreed on is that irresponsible pet owners create and add to the problem. "If people weren't abandoning cats in the first place," Wade-Carotenuto says, "none of this would have happened." |