| A unit of Lasting Forests
evolving since March 30, 1999 |
|
A Total Forest Management Plan
|
|
|
There is a lack of information on feral cats (Felis catus formerly F. domesticus) and their effects on wildlife populations. Feral cats are typically defined as free-roaming or non-pet domestic cats.They arrived in the US several hundred years ago.
There are 4 types of cats (Vant Woudt 1990). The first type creates no known environmental problem. Cats, however, may be shifted among the four categories:
Feral cats are often much larger than domestic ones. Survivor cats, after abandonment, are curbed by (1) attachment to the owner, food, and shelter; (2) incapacity to compete with native predators, even becoming one of their prey (e.g., owls and coyotes); (3) malnutrition (succumbing to exposure, disease, and parasites); (4) low immunity or resistance to diseases and parasites (there are many); and (5) lack of parental examples and play conducive to preparing an animal for life in the wild (Van't Woudt 1990).
Cats respond to movement; sense of smell is poorly developed. While they climb trees, they do it poorly and rarely can get to tree bird nests. The bird species subject to feral cats are thus of a type (that needs analysis) and it is likely that a single animal can effect long-term, whole-population numbers. Cats (unlike many other mammals) are rarely involved in waterfowl predation. They are carnivores and lizards are a prey of considerable importance and thus of local concern where such species are threatened or increases are desired,
There are relatively few management techniques for reducing feral cat populations. Recent studies are reported, but it is important to emphasize that other studies are needed to gain a better understanding of feral cat population and how to control them.
Feral cats are extremely efficient at preying on small birds and mammals. The general public typically only sees cats as a way of removing pest species and as pets, but they are also direct competitors with declining raptor populations and destructive to native species. In a study by George (1974), he asked 49 wildlife protective agencies about the distribution and density of cats in the U.S. None had any data on cat numbers. In 1916 Forbush wrote extensively about the great harm done by farm cats and feral cats to bird populations. There is lack of knowledge of cats and an understanding about their effects as an introduced species. Laboratory studies have suggested that hunger and hunting in cats are controlled by separate parts of the brain. Even though humans may feed cats, cats still have an instinct to hunt. Bradt reported that a cat that consumed domestic food killed 1,600 mammals and 60 birds in an 18-month period. Maister Salmon who published "The Compleat English Physician" in 1693 described the cat as the mortal enemy of the rat, mouse "and every sort of bird which it seizes as its prey." Forbush (1916:43) summarized his questionnaire saying that cats kill 2.7 birds per cat per day. He reported a careful (but single) observation -- 58 birds in a year -- and suggested a mature cat in good hunting grounds will catch about 50 birds a year. At a conservative 10 birds per cat-year, farm cats in Massachusetts (1916) kill about 700,000 birds a year.
Phil Eggborn reported on studies in Richmond, Virginia. Five cats killed 187 animals during 11 months in 1990. Animals were mice, chipmunks, rabbits, flying squirrels, songbirds, lizards, snakes, and frogs. One cat brought home 83 carcasses (a number not including those left in the field). Researchers estimated that Virginia's one million cats kill between 3 million and 26 million birds a year (similar to the 20 million estimated killed in England each year).
In Connecticut alone, cats are the third largest carriers of rabies. Nation wide, they are the domestic animal most frequently reported to have rabies. They may transmit the human disease toxoplasmosis. Fleas and well as tapeworms may present problems. Cat-scratch fever is a danger. They have spread feline leukemia virus to mountain lions and feline panleucopaenia (feline distemper)(Van Rensburg et al. 1987) to the Florida panther (Coleman et al.1996).
Feral cats congregate in stairwells in cities and leave objectionable odor.
Cats are said to be endangering populations of least terns, piping plovers, and loggerhead shrikes and marsh rabbits (in Florida). They have eliminated certain bird species on islands.
The growth of cats in the U.S. is essentially unrestricted and according to the Pet Food Institute the number of cats in the U.S. numbered 42 million in 1981, a 65% increase from the previous decade (Warner, 1985). Coleman et al. (1996) estimated 60 million in 1990. Thirty percent of households have cats. Frank Chapman in BirdLore (1902) estimated that there were more than 25 million cats in the US. George (1974) made an admittedly conservative estimate that 10 million cats were present in the countryside and that they removed an estimated 5.5 billion rodents and 2.5 billion other invertebrates per year from 26,000 square miles of land. Forbush reported that the Animal Rescue League of Boston destroyed 30,688 feral cats in 1914 -- 210,090 from 1905 to 1914. In New York in 1911, the ASPCA destroyed 303,949 cats.
Coleman et al. (1996) reported cat densities of 114 per square mile in Wisconsin.
Cats may have 2 to 4 litters yearly with 5 to 9 kittens in each litter (mean of 1.4 litters per year; 4.4 kittens per litter). A mating pair and their offspring can produce 600 cats in two years. (1000 female adults can produce 6000 kittens a year). The coyote, fox, and eagle are the only predators. Raccoons, weasels, and owls may take kittens. Causes of rural cat mortality (Illinois, Warner 1985) were:
Vehicles
37%
Disease
24
Humans
11
Dogs
10
Winter Storms
6
Machinery
4
Farm Chemicals
4
Livestock
1
"Old Age"
1
There are some people who claim that cats are being made a scapegoat for wildlife population decline when habitat and other forces are in action. There is no evidence that natural predators have ever caused population extinction, even major loss in nature. The cat is often non-native, introduced, subsidized by human feeding, and the dense populations of mice around farm structures are hardly "natural."
There is some harm done to natural populations by cats, both in abundance and richness, thus in the usual expressions of biodiversity. Cats may reduce prey of other animals of managerial importance (e.g., the raptors). Cats can keep small populations (mice, ground-nesting birds, and lizards) small but cannot adequately control "outbreaks" or high-density populations. More studies may be needed, but the likely effects (uses) of knowledge from such studies need to be evaluated. Benefits may exceed the costs.
After this review of the problems associated with feral cats, the following seems possible.
Create a management system. The objectives, for example, might be:
Weights of relative importance for these 6 objectives and other aspects of objective-setting need to be used to make the list more complete and precise.
The inputs might be samples to estimate population levels; density estimates; ranges; food habits; timing of problems; presence of disease.
 |
| Special and yet un-named bonds and relationships are reached between people and cats making decisions about cats and wild fauna or feral pet fauna outside of the reach of classical logic or "rational behavior." |
Establish fines and punishment for anyone interfering with efforts to reduce feral cats or their undesirable influences (neutering clinics, trapping, etc.)
In 2003, Florida developed a draft document on feral cats
3 March 2003 Final Draft of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Policy on impacts of domestic cats on native wildlife
Position and Policy
The domestic cat (Felis catus) is not native to Florida, but feral and free-ranging cats occur throughout the state and number several million. Cats prey upon both common and rare species of native wildlife in Florida, including species listed as threatened or endangered by state and federal governments. Although the cumulative impact of cats upon native wildlife in Florida remains uncertain relative to other impacts, predation by cats is common and can be especially detrimental to wildlife populations that are small or restricted in their distribution.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is mandated by the Florida Constitution to conserve and protect populations of native wildlife, and the FWC has authority to curtail adverse impacts that nonnative animals cause to native species. Therefore, it is the policy of the FWC to protect native wildlife from predation, disease, and other impacts presented by feral and free-ranging cats. The FWC recognizes that local governments have the responsibility to regulate domesticated species, including cats, but the actions of local governments must not adversely impact native wildlife. Thus, the FWC will strive to minimize or eliminate the impacts of cats where they pose a significant threat to local wildlife populations, but will otherwise leave control of nuisance or feral cats and issues of local public safety and welfare to local governments.
Implementation
Implementing this broad policy will require a variety of FWC resources as well as cooperative efforts between FWC and other public agencies and private groups. Because of the extent of the domestic cat problem, protection of listed species and public lands are considered the highest priority. Several strategies may be followed and listed below are some that should be particularly useful in protecting native wildlife from feral or free-ranging cats. FWC staff should consider these and other potential strategies and recommend implementation measures, as appropriate.
Recommended strategies:
Linda Winter, Director, Cats Indoors! American Bird Conservancy,
1834 Jefferson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-452-1535, ext 201
winmail7.dat
Feedback will include monitoring of the population and modifying the procedures, inputs, and objectives based on the findings. The system Context may need to be evaluated as well. The feral cat problem may affect the rural areas or the urban situation may be affected by the population in the rural areas. Problems may be temporary or have an unusual source for which an entire system need not be created. Feedback may include confirming or changing the objectives and making them more precise and adding constraints and policies (Type 4 as seen in the section on Objectives). For example, it may be impossible to eliminate the feral cat; thus a reasonable objective may be to reduce their effects to an acceptable level.
Feedforward within the system includes estimating future cat populations within society, changes in attitudes toward them, and developments in control procedures and techniques and then making changes today to get ready for the predicted future.
It is unreasonable to spend large amounts of money and other resources on wildlife management while, at the same time, ignoring the widespread and harmful effects of domestic cats.
See Cats Indoors Project.
Commentary, 2002, by Dick Davis, email: "Very conservative estimates are that feral and free-roaming cats kill something on the order of 130 million birds each year. That's about 350,000 per day! One study in Wisconsin demonstrated that by the most conservative estimates, 7.8 million birds were killed in just rural Wisconsin each year."
Note: Cats let outdoors can also pick up rabies, plague and toxoplasmosis and bring them back indoors to children and others.
In the 1980's some graduate student followed radio-collared house cats to find shrews (Sorex). He'd follow the cats around and chase them off their kill. First-records for species in counties are highly likely from using this procedure.
There may be a need later for clarifying: house, semiferal, feral, loose, pet, wild, and nuisance animals and individuals in groups of three or more that respond differently (food competition, etc.) from single cats.
Position Statement of Wildlife Society
See:https://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/Legacy/SafeCats/links.html
Literature
A massive bibliography on free-roaming and feral cat reseach:
Coleman, J.S., S.A. Temple, and S.R. Craven. 1997. Cats and wildlife: a conservation dilemma. Univ. Wisconsin-Extension, Madison WI (http://www.wisc.edu/wildlife/e-pubs.html)
Coman, B.J. and E.H. Jones. 1986. Ecology of feral cats in Victoria. Trees and Victoria's Resources, 23:20-21.
Craven et al. wildlife extension publication.Note: One unintended omission I would point out is in the section on "The legal status of domestic cats." The pamphlet states "As with other domestic animals, if ownership can be established by collars or other means of identification, a cat is considered personal property."
In many states there are no comprehensive cat control laws, and cats may be considered personal property even if they are unidentified (no collar, tattoo, or microchip). So if you pick up an unidentified cat and have it put down, and the neighbor claims it was their animal, even if it was a nasty old thing and "seemed feral," you can be held liable for the destruction of personal property. This is not likely to be a big issue for the farm owner who might kill one sick stray a year, but would be a serious concern for a wildlife control or pest control company that decided to add "feral cat control" as a service and was regularly capturing cats at the request of landowners.
The solution is to take all strays to a shelter authorized by the state (incorporated SPCAs or municipal shelters) to accept stray cats, and many wildlife control companies do this. The law often clearly states these (and only these) organizations may euthanize stray animals after a certain holding period, or find them homes.
In NYS law, the unspoken assumption is that "every citizen has a shelter, so we don't need to address how private citizens should deal with cats on their own." However, this solution is of no help if you live in a region where there is no municipal cat shelter, and the SPCA is "no-kill," is not funded by the town or county, and will not usually accept feral-appearing cats. They sometimes will if pushed, but how often can you push a private organization that receives no municipal funding for cat control? If the town wants a private organization to take responsibility for the cat problem, they need to pay specifically for that service.
The pamphlet wisely states "because laws vary, one should check local ordinances for the appropriate way to deal with stray cats." The answer, unfortunately, may be that there is no clearly legal way if your town does not fund cat control and laws are murky.
A contribution by Susan Greene
Staff, Ithaca College
sgreene@ithaca.edu
Fitzgerald, B.M. 1988. Diet of the domestic cat and their impact on prey populations, p. 123-141 in D.C. Turner and P. Bateson (eds.) The domestic cat. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge England
Forbush, E.H. 1916. The domestic cat: bird killer, mouser, and destroyer of wildlife: means of utilizing and controlling it. Econ. Biol. Bul. No.2, Mass. State Board of Agriculture, Boston, MA 112pp.
Hubbs, E.L. 1951. Food habits of the feral house cats in the Sacramento Valley. Calif. Fish and Game 37:177-189.
Van Rensburg, P.J.J., J.D. Skinner, and R.J. Van Aarde. 1987. Effects of feline panleucopaenia on the population characteristics of feral cats on Marion Island. J. Appl. Ecol. 24:63-73
Van't Woudt, B. D. 1990. Roaming stray, and feral domestic cats and dogs as wildlife problems, p. 291-295 in L.R. Davis, R.E. Marsh, and D.E. Beadle (eds.) Proc. 14th Vertebrate Pest Conf. Univ. Calif, Davis, CA. 372pp.
Warner, R.E. 1985 Demography and movements of free-ranging domestic cats in rural Illinois. J.Wildl. Manage. 49:340-346
See 20003 article on domestic cats (Felis catus) management options." S. J. Adams and C. E. Adams. J. Wildl Manage. Vol 31, #2 pp 334-339.),
With contributions by:
Jeremy A. Kessinger (1992), Jennifer Mercer, and Anthony L. John II (1995)
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0321 Revised 8-2000 RHG
An outrageous old cartoon now converted to a pseudo-advertisement, one quite offensive to some people, suggests the extreme dislike by some people of feral housecats and their effects on quiet, gardens, and wildlife.
| Quick Access to the Contents of LastingForests.com |
|---|
This Web site is maintained by R. H.
Giles, Jr.
Last revision May 31, 2003.
