i'm frustrated by all the feral cats in our area. by how my girls pull me under rows of bushes to grab a cat food tin or the cat who is trying to eat from it. by all the black and white cats who all look the same and are crying in heat out in the yards. i did not realize the neighbor was being manipulative until i watched 15 months of new kittens being born and discovered this has been going on for 5 years. so i wrote a letter for the newspaper. i tried to be fair and not pick on anyone or call out how this behavior is similar to hoarding, that these people have kitten addictions, ect. i had a few friends give me good advice - friends who were willing to discuss this issue as adults and not run away from the conversation. they do cat rescue - i wanted their help.
it may not get my neighbor to change her ways, but i'm trying this on a much larger scale. a neighborhood scale. we'll see what happens.
During
the 13 years my business has been located in the city of Dearborn,
I've heard quite a bit about how the city has a problem with rats.
However, after moving into the city to live, I discovered an equally
disturbing, four lettered word the city has a problem with - CATS.
Feral
cats are in all major US cities these days, a problem made
increasingly bigger by the difficulties faced in tough economic
times. People everywhere have been forced to give up their pets due
to a lack of money and this, coupled with how quickly they breed, has
dramatically raised the number of homeless and feral cats living on
the streets in Dearborn.
Adding
to this problem is a segment of the population who feels that by
feeding street cats they are helping the cats. A number of these same
people also offer them "homes" by allowing the cats to live
under their porches or in their garage. These people honestly feel
they are helping the stray cats by "providing" for them,
but quite the opposite is true.
There
are those who feel a cat or two being fed in the yard is no big deal,
but cats with no medical attention, esp cats who are not neutered or
spayed, have an amazing ability to reproduce. According to the
Michigan Humane Society a single unspayed female cat, her mate and
all their offspring can produce a total of 370,092 kittens in just
seven years.
Some
folks think that trapping the stray cats and having them spayed or
neutered is cruel, but in reality it is far more cruel to the cats
and the environment to not get them sterilized. A population of feral
cats can destroy a local or migrating bird population, and can
themselves become food for coyotes and birds of prey like hawks and
owls. A cat is similar in size to a rabbit, and a kitten is light
weight and easily snatched from a back yard. With birds of prey
actually swooping into yards and attacking small terriers it is not a
surprise cats who are constantly outdoors are also targets.
A
number of cities have trap neuter release programs that work, and
even if not city run, have greatly reduced the cat population.
Hamtramck and Redford are two of those cities, with citizen run
animal rescue organizations who understand the importance of
population control. Their efforts over the past few years have
greatly reduced the number of homeless and stray cats in their areas,
while also relieving stress on the local economy. They work with
veterinarians who understand the issue, and offer low cost treatment
so the cats are sterilized and treated for underlying health issues.
This helps stop the spread of disease to house pets.
A
sad and disturbing fact to note here is that in the state of
Michigan, over 60% of the cats in shelters are euthanized. In 2010
alone, over 60,500 cats were euthanized in shelters in Michigan. This
number does not include the staggering amount of cats hit by cars,
eaten by predators, or disposed of in some way after a human decides
to not keep the kittens born in their backyard.
Dogs
in Dearborn are subject to many rules and regulations and must be
licensed and always on a leash or in a fenced yard. There are
ordinances against feeding birds and squirrels on the ground. Is the
cat overpopulation not being treated as an issue because the city is
hoping the cats will keep the rats under control? That is a foolish
idea, especially when these ferals are being fed by people who think
it is the right thing to do, and that cat food is simply attracting
more rodents.
Feral
cats and alley cats are a human made problem. Feral cats often cannot
be tamed, and most shelters must put them to sleep. For humans to be
responsible about this issue the best thing they can do is trap the
cats, have them neutered, and release them back into the
neighborhood. Cats mark their territory, which keeps other cats away,
and so the best course of action is to get all strays neutered. Stop
the influx of new cats, both from breeding and from other areas.
Friends
of the Dearborn Animal Shelter offers help to those who have feral
cats in their yard or on their property. The Michigan Humane Society
has made donations to help with low cost spay and neuter. These
programs need to be taken advantage of, as the current numbers show
over 60% of all cats in shelters in Michigan are euthanized. Every
person who is allowing this cat explosion to continue is responsible
for those cats being “put to sleep”. It is time for the citizens
of this city to make a change. Take responsibility. If you have those
cats in your yard – get them fixed. If you are the neighbor of
someone who has ferals in their yard or garage or under their porch –
report them. By turning a blind eye YOU are adding to the senseless
killing of all these animals – animals who did not ask to be on the
streets in the first place, breeding over and over, having their
kittens eaten by hawks, being hit by cars on the roads. It is time to
take action.
If
you would like more info on local Trap Neuter and Release programs,
or if you would like to talk to someone about starting a TNR in your
area, please feel free to contact these local groups. And if you need
information on low cost vet care or controlling the cat population
explosion in your yard, the FFTDAS will be happy to hear from you.
http://www.hamcat.org/HCAT/Welcome.html
http://projectkittyconnect.org/
http://www.allaboutanimalsrescue.org/index.html
