New Book Calls for Removal of Outdoor Cats ‘By Any Means’…

Trap-neuter-return (TNR) is a program through which free-roaming cats are humanely trapped, sterilized and medically treated and returned to the outdoor locations where they were found. If those locations are deemed unsafe or otherwise inappropriate, feral cats (unsocialized to humans) are relocated to farmyard homes.

Many of the cats who live in outdoor locations like in farms or in the cities are known as the best “mouse managers.” Cats combat the rat problem all over the world and we should all appreciate this as rats are very dangerous.

While some people are fighting to help the feral cats, to trap, neuter and return them to their territories, other people seem to be disturbed by them considering them tremendously damaging to wildlife, specifically to birds.

Authors of the academic-leaning tome ‘Cat Wars’ criticize the common practice of trapping, spaying, and releasing unowned cats and write that “we need to act on all fronts to stem the tide.”

The book’s authors are Peter Marra, head of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and writer Chris Santella. They write, “From a conservation ecology perspective, the most desirable solution seems clear—remove all free-ranging cats from the landscape by any means necessary.”

Are cats really public enemy number one?

Source: nationalgeographic.com.