Feral-Spay/Neuter Info

Feral-Spay/Neuter Info

Problem:

Overpopulation of feral cats.

Not enough people are having their pets spayed/neutered.

People abandon their unaltered pets, adults and kittens, who are left to defend for themselves & die of starvation, disease, abuse, injuries, or as food for predators.

Facts

One female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in 7 years. -ACA

Estimated 60-100 million homeless/feral cats in the United States –ACA

30-60% of unsterilized domestic cats will find themselves living in feral colonies within three years.-ACA

1993 survey of Santa Clara county residents 16% verified that their cat had a litter prior to altering.-FCC

41% of known cat population in Santa Clara county is unowned-FCC

86% of owned cats in Santa Clara county are altered.-FCC

Solutions:

*Capture/Kill : The following facts are the result of this first solution.

Every 1.5 seconds a shelter animal is killed.

Approximately 71% of cats and kittens entering shelters are killed, based on reports from 1,055 facilities across America.-ACA

The Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley estimates over 50% of their stray cats euthanized are either wild, or their unweaned offspring.- Feral Cat Coalition

It costs U.S. taxpayers an estimated $2 billion each year to round up, house, kill, and dispose of homeless animals. -Stanford Cat Network

Poison, shooting, or euthanizing are ways for people to get rid of the feral cat colony in their area, but not for long. Why? Once the owner/community of the grounds trapped and killed the feral colony for many months, there will still be the abundant food source that attracted the first colony. More and more cats will eventually find the food source and a new feral colony begins. This is known as the "vacuum effect." As you can clearly see, the Capture and Kill approach does not work because it is only short-term and very expensive.

*Trap/Spay-Neuter/Release-manage colony programs do work & it is a long-term plan. Key points:

"What exists out there is this huge feral cat population," Reed said. "It replicates upon itself. They breed, they have more. With the help of the public in trapping these cats, we're making a huge dent in this population." (David Reed, a veterinarian at Campbell's Bascom Animal Hospital)

The Feral Cat Coalition of San Diego- 50% decrease in the number of cats impounded and killed (Prior to the formation of the FCC, the number was increasing at a rate of 15% per year)

"Studies have proven that trap-spay/neuter-vaccinate-release is the single most successful method of stabilizing and maintaining healthy feral cat colonies with the least possible cost to local governments and residents, while providing the best life for the animals themselves."-Stanford Cat Network

"We don't have cat problems. We have people problems. People abandon their pets, and these animals are not spayed or neutered. If we can tackle our people problem, our cat problem will be much less."- Stacy LeBaron (president of Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society)

Help "kill the problem, not the cats."

What can we do for a start?

Trap/Spay-Neuter/Release-Manage colony!

People need to have their pets spayed/neutered!

Keep pets indoors!

Educate others about this problem, it’s trap/spay/release type of solution, and programs.

Support caretakers and feral colonies.

A community can also start their own feral colony management program.

Santa Clara County

There is a Santa Clara County program in which certain clinics will spay/neuter kittens/cats for $10.

Santa Clarahttp://www.co.santa-clara.ca.us/animal/programs.html

San Jose residents can have kittens spayed/neutered under six months for free and over six months old are only $5.

San Jose http://www.ci.san-jose.ca.us/code/spay.htm

City of Milpitas has a $5 voucher program for spay/neuter of feral cats and for pets of low income people.

Low Cost or Free Spay - Neuter Programs in the United States
http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html

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