Kringle checks out Community Cats “It all started when a rat ran over my husband’s foot.” With this compelling opening line, Anne Beall takes us on a journey with feral cats in Chicago, in her book, Community Cats. At the same time, she provides important data adding to the cats and birds debate. We meet Anne’s three feral cats, introduced by the Cats at Work program of Tree House Humane Society. By spreading cat litter soaked in urine at rat holes, rodents were deterred from the area. Remaining rats were further deterred by the skilful hunters, who often showed their work. Neighbours appreciated the effective, poison-free approach of the working cats.
Anne wondered at first whether the outdoor life was humane. During a cold snap, she was relieved to find that her cats simply remained in their shelter and ate more to stay warm. Some organizations and even a rogue cat trapper believed that feral cats were better off dead. Seeing their healthy, active lives and how they bonded with each other, Anne took a firm stance for life. The cats eventually warmed to her as well, especially Eloise, who surprisingly enjoyed petting. Tree House’s Jenny Schlueter brought trap-neuter-return (TNR) to Chicago, having practiced it in Spain. After quietly doing TNR in her off hours, the rescue took notice. Ferals were first mixed with friendly cats to get them socialized if possible. The Community Cats Program then began to place cats deemed feral in colony settings. In 2007, Chicago made legal provision for TNR. Their ordinance requires colonies to be registered with a sponsoring organization and carefully managed. By 2014, there were 1,055 registered colonies of 7,040 cats in Cook County. The Cats at Work program, using cats for rodent control, was the next step. Alderman Dara Salk of the 47th Ward praised the program: “Cats at Work is just one of the various programs that make life better for the people in our ward. It’s the humane thing to do. You feel so good when you help the cats…. We are all part of the solution.” We meet a steel drum manufacturer whose two feral cats helped with more than rodent control. Owner Howard Skolnik said, “The fact that we invested in a nontoxic solution tells employees that the company wants to provide a healthy, clean place to work. It also says that the company is progressive and willing to try innovative solutions.” When asked if staff ever complain or have issues with allergies, he laughed, “We have to discourage employees from spending too much time with the cats. We also have to discourage people from feeding them because we kept finding empty cans of cat food around their quarters.” Anne also deftly tackles the heated debate about cats and birds. She was saddened that some colony caretakers refused to speak to her when they learned that she also rescued birds. Especially during migration season, too many birds fly into Chicago’s tall glass-walled buildings and plummet to the ground. Anne joined rescuers saving thousands of birds on early morning searches for those surviving their fall. The greatest threat to the fallen birds was not cats, says Anne, but crows and seagulls. Of course, human-made glass walls caused the original threat, one that can be addressed with bird-sensitive construction and alterations. Unlike predators, this human threat attacks healthy, strong birds as much as the weak and sickly. Cat rescuers may be leery of birders because many believe misinformation that cats are responsible for outrageous numbers of birds killed in North America. These birders often advocate that all cats be confined indoors. This leaves no room for feral cats, who are expected to be trapped and killed. The health benefits of spending time in the garden, mentioned in an earlier blog post, are long forgotten. Thankfully, like the author, not every bird enthusiast hates or fears cats. I was pleased to connect with a Canadian bird conservationist who did extensive TNR at her home at great personal expense. Anne raises strong points about the poor research blaming cats for billions of bird deaths each year (Loss et al, 2013). “If cats were killing this many birds, they would be killing 43 to 100 percent of the US birds each year. If that situation were an actuality, the bird population would be entirely wiped out within one to two years …. birds would have been extinct by now.” Anne contributed her own original research of American residents. An experienced market researcher, her firm, Beall Research, conducted a comprehensive survey of cat ownership and attitudes. Her data shows that 71% of US residents had not heard of TNR in 2013. More than half were extremely positive about it, and were supportive of the program. She also calculated numbers of birds and rats killed by all American cats, based on reported carcass sightings (17.4 million rats, 20.6 million birds). The estimates were then inflated four times to account for unseen kills (69.6 million rats, 86.4 million birds in 2013). While that is a lot of individuals, it is far less than the 184 million American cats identified in the survey. (Of these, 95 million were in homes, 20.5 million owned but living outdoors, and 69 million stray or feral.) Predation numbers are also far less than those of bird organizations who believe the original inflated bad research. For example, Nature Canada blames cats for 75% of bird deaths in our country. Seriously? Can cats fly? They are amazing hunters, but also preyed upon. It’s too bad that their hunting ability is overinflated in a way that leads to anti-cat campaigns. I quibble with one of the facts used in Anne’s survey: “There is already an overpopulation of cats in the United States, and over 1.5 million cats are put down every year.” It is a sad fact that many cats and kittens are killed for this stated reason. However, American no-kill advocate Nathan Winograd has written persuasively that overpopulation is a myth. Yes, a myth! Aside from working the numbers, Winograd explained that you could run any animal shelter without killing healthy or treatable animals, using eleven straightforward elements of the No Kill Equation (discussed in an earlier blog post). TNR is an element. While Winograd showed that this no kill approach is in fact less costly and more effective than killing, the traditional shelter community resisted change. It was easier to blame “irresponsible pet owners” for animals needing shelter, rather than look within to increase adoptions and keep pets in their homes. Imagine the guilt if they blamed themselves! Couldn’t we just improve without blame? Closer to home, rats have become a serious problem in Vancouver. Feral cat colonies could help greatly as a non-toxic, humane solution. I’m grateful to Anne Beall for sharing her experience and research in such an engaging way. - Irene Plett Details: Anne Beall, Community Cats: A Journey Into the World of Feral Cats (iUniverse, 2016, ISBN 9781532001505) Topics: feral cats, trap-neuter-return, rat control, rodent control, bird rescue, cat rescue, cat predation, Nathan Winograd, no kill sheltering, Alley Cat Allies, Tree House Humane Society
5 Comments
Larry Cosgrave
10/10/2018 05:01:31 pm
Brilliant and intelligent approach to cats both domestic and feral. We do TNR here in PEI via Cat Action Team and it has helped a huge amount. There is still plenty to do as usual however!
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10/11/2018 12:24:01 pm
Great to hear from you! Cat Action Team has helped so many people and cats in PEI. Thank you for your dedication!
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