Experts say there are more than a billion feral cats in this country – animals that carry dangerous parasites and wipe out billions of birds and small animals each year. Some people support programs to trap, sterilize and return those wild cats to their colonies, but a bill to promote that approach has sparked a cat fight in Richmond.
Daphna Nachminovich is an executive with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and she knows how quickly cats reproduce.
“They have at least two litters a year, and they have multiple kittens per litter," she says. "They start reproducing at five or six months."
So she doesn’t oppose sterilizing feral cats, but she’s not happy with a bill sponsored by Senator Lynwood Lewis. It would allow animal shelters to create trap, neuter and release programs or TNRs to control population growth, but it doesn’t require the provision of food, water, shelter and veterinary care.
At Richmond’s SPCA Tabitha Treloir says feral cats are not socialized -- not suitable for adoption, so TNR is the best way to protect them.
“Leaving these cats outdoors without the benefit of sterilization means that their numbers will grow unchecked.”
And, she says, the bill provides legal protection for volunteers who trap and release feral cats and could be charged with abandoning animals under state law.
“Which in some localities have been used to really squelch TNR efforts that are the only humane way to manage community cats and reduce their numbers.”
Finally, Treloir notes, Senate Bill 1390 requires vaccination of cats against rabies, but three shots are needed to provide immunity, and if feral cats are released, critics like PETA’s Nachminovich doubt they’ll get their boosters.
“Cats are the most common domesticated animal to transmit rabies to humans, and so it’s extremely important that they are kept current on their rabies vaccinations.”
Supporters of the bill refer to feral felines as community cats, but at the Wildlife Center of Virginia President Ed Clark scoffs at the term, arguing feral cats are not wanted by communities and lead miserable lives. Some are attacked by dogs, foxes and birds of prey. Others get sick or are hit by cars. It would be kinder, he suggests, to try socializing them and to euthanize those that can’t adapt to life with people. That might sound cruel, but Clark argues it would save billions of birds and small mammals.
“The truth is an outdoor cat is a killing machine," he says. "Even well-fed pet cats prey, because they’re cats. That’s what they do. Only a small percentage of what they kill is actually eaten. The rest of it’s just killed. Game over. Go find something else to play with.”
Clark and Nachminovich think Virginia could craft a better law to address the feral cat problem – maybe one like the bill enacted in Newport News.
“Several years ago they passed an ordinance that requires people who wish to feed feral cats outside to register with animal control, to actively trap, spay/neuter, vaccinate cats that they choose to take care of, limit the colony size to 20, obtain property owner permission and also the permission or buy-in of surrounding property owners,” Nachminovich says.
She and Clark vow to be back next year with their own bill to address the fate of feral cats. The Senate has approved bill 1390, but the House of Delegates has yet to vote on it.
