Also the easier solution is more TNR and more education and resources to help prevent dumping unwanted cats.
I worked with a shelter for a bit which specialized in feral cat populations. They would work with local landowners and municipalities to trap feral cats and engage in both TNR and they would separate out friendly cats to adopt out. They also worked with a local community college’s vet program to run an annual spayathon, with low cost spay/neutering services available, giving veterinary students valueble experience and helping reduce cat populations.
With enough funding such projects can be successful, but its ultimately a numbers game since one mother can have a litter of 5+ kittens every year, and those 5 kittens can have litters the next year and so on, so it takes a lot of hands on work trapping, spaying/neutering and releasing and maintaining that progress indefinitely to make a dent in the local popupation. There’s always going to be a few cats you never catch who keep the population going, so you have to limit their impact on the overall population
My thinking was that, if we have an unmanageable population of cats, why don’t we solve the problem the way we solve all biodiversity- by eating it?
I’m not saying we should, I’m just saying it’s a possible solution.
Is it even meat we’d want to eat though?
Also the easier solution is more TNR and more education and resources to help prevent dumping unwanted cats.
I worked with a shelter for a bit which specialized in feral cat populations. They would work with local landowners and municipalities to trap feral cats and engage in both TNR and they would separate out friendly cats to adopt out. They also worked with a local community college’s vet program to run an annual spayathon, with low cost spay/neutering services available, giving veterinary students valueble experience and helping reduce cat populations.
With enough funding such projects can be successful, but its ultimately a numbers game since one mother can have a litter of 5+ kittens every year, and those 5 kittens can have litters the next year and so on, so it takes a lot of hands on work trapping, spaying/neutering and releasing and maintaining that progress indefinitely to make a dent in the local popupation. There’s always going to be a few cats you never catch who keep the population going, so you have to limit their impact on the overall population
You literally used the word “should” in your previous comment 😉