“Have you ever fed a homeless cat ?
Feeding homeless cats extends rather than helps the problem.
More info here www.goodcatsa.com/homeless …”
– RSPCA SA Facebook page
Feeding homeless cats only ‘extends the problem’ in that it gives a hungry animal a meal. What is truly ‘extending the problem’ of homeless cats breeding unchecked, is a lack of desexing programs focusing on those cats who are living without owners.
If we are to ever solve the cat ‘problem’ we have to move beyond blaming the community and cat owners for a situation that is almost entirely beyond their control. In an urban setting feeding an unowned cat, or not feeding that cat has zero impact – ZERO – on that cat’s ability to reproduce. Focusing on this largely irrelevant detail of individuals who feed strays, fails to address the much harder- to-remedy issues of open rubbish bins, rodent infestations and easily accessible food sources like rubbish tips and fast food restaurants, that attract and support cats.
Worse, alienating these people – the people who actually care about these cat’s welfare – only pushes these caring behaviours further to the periphery, driving compassion for cats out of the community and making the situation worse for unowned cats. We need these feeders to be celebrated and helped to take even more, proactive action on behalf of cats… not simply discouraged in the hope the whole cat ‘problem’ will just magically resolve itself from there. It won’t.
Homeless cats breed because they can. The only humane way to reduce the number of homeless cats is to check their breeding. This can only happen with large scale, cat desexing programs for cats without owners, and campaigns which encourage those who care for to seek assistance in their important work protecting our Community Cats.
So, the website says:
What should I do if approached for food by a homeless cat?
Don’t feed it, they say, instead…
“It would be *far better* for the cat if you trapped it and took it to your local vet or animal shelter. There they can check it for any signs of ownership and commence a return to home or re-homing process.”
This leads people to believe that the cat would be returned home to its owner, or rehomed.
But the site goes on to say:
“Cats that cannot be identified are then assessed for their suitability to be re-homed. Those that are appropriate are put up for adoption the others are humanely euthanased to reduce any further pain and suffering.”
Therefore – don’t feed a cat, please trap it and bring it to us so that we could, maybe, possibly kill it. If that’s what they’re doing, then they should say so (bluntly).
Disguising it in propaganda about ‘cats frequently starve to death, are ravaged by disease or injuries or become victims of predator attacks or motor accidents’ is just misleading.
This is a fantastic site to show how desex and dump is cruel, inhumane and does nothing to help cats on the street.
[website removed]
Yes, I know of that website.
What they’ve failed to provide is examples of where ‘catch and kill’ models have reduced cat populations, pound intakes and improved welfare of cats long-term.
Surely if ‘catch & kill’ was so successful, they would have at least one successful city that they could be holding up as a model case study, especially given the approach has been used for several decades, no?
There is a reason why TNR is now recommended by the ASPCA, the HSUS and the National Association for Animal Control… is the preferred approach of the RSPCA UK and is being rolled out across New Zealand through their SPCA branches….
http://www.savingpets.com.au/wp-content/uploads/NACA.jpg
Because though not a perfect solution, it *does* meet its proposed outcomes; a stabilisation and reduction of cat numbers, an improvement in overall colony & ‘herd’ health, and to provide a humane alternative to death for untame cats entering shelters & eliminating shelter killing.
Things ‘catch & kill’ – no matter how intensive – fails to do…