Facts and Myths About Feral Cats

The domestic cat evolved from the African wild cat, Felis libyca. Feral cats are the offspring of stray or abandoned domestic cats who revert to a wild state. Raised without human contact, they are fearful of humans. Feral cats are successful survivors, especially in urban areas, where they scavenge off rubbish, leftover food, and feedings by sympathetic people. The domestic cat was introduced throughout the world by explorers and scientists.

Feral cats live on cliffs, streets and gardens because of human neglect of their UN-sterilised domestic house cats, allowing them to roam and reproduce.

In Guernsey old vinery sites and farms represent areas where successful colonies of managed, sterilised cats live. Foods outside houses attract rodents and therefore stray cats.

Doctors have found that old people caring for feral cats are therapeutic, for their patients, providing a great deal of enjoyment. Such programs have been particularly successful for patients in the Castel Hospital.

It is suggested by UK cat charities relocating cats to farms, if they need to be removed from unsafe urban areas. The program permits sterilised, vaccinated cats to be relocated under strict supervision and guidelines, and encourages an educational program on how to properly care for cats.

Colony Management Attempts to eradicate whole colonies of cats usually fail because the ecological vacuum created is soon filled by other strays. Unmanaged colonies are often regarded as a nuisance because of territorial behaviour such as spraying, fighting, and caterwauling during mating periods. Stabilising the colony by neutering results in healthier animals and much of their undesirable behaviour is eliminated.

Health Hazards to Humans Although certain diseases can be transmitted between animals and humans, instances of diseases being contracted by persons working with feral cat colonies are rare.

Two concerns for human's health with regard to feral's are fleas and ringworm, both of which can be controlled. Fleas can be controlled by regularly cleaning and spraying the colony's sleeping quarters during the summer.

Practicing good hygiene when dealing with managed cat colonies, such as cleaning up feeding areas and sleeping quarters and providing clean litter boxes, virtually eliminates disease transmission from colonies to humans.

Attacks by Feral Cats Lost or abandoned domestic female cats teach their offspring to be "feral." These latent instincts, acquired from their African Wildcat ancestors, help cats survive in nature. Feral cats are elusive, often nocturnal, and usually fearful of humans. Like most wild animals, they will not attack if unprovoked, but will defend themselves if threatened or cornered. Their strongest instinct is to run. If they feel trapped and escape is blocked they will bite or scratch. Never try to catch a feral by hand. Even little kittens can inflict painful bites and scratches.

Perdition and Wildlife The topic of wildlife perdition by cats is usually a very emotional issue between cat lovers and bird lovers. The results of such emotional responses are deceptive and add up to the impression of tremendous numbers of birds and small mammals killed by cats each year.

Cats are carnivores, equipped with highly developed senses, sharp teeth and claws. Wild cats are the supreme predators among terrestrial mammals and although they have a reputation for wanton slaughter, only well fed domestic cats can possibly be accused of this, as they often do not eat their prey. They hunt, in essence, because they are compelled to do so by nature. Even in such cases, scientific evidence shows cats mostly catch small mammals, such as rodents, and insects. Feral cats who rely solely on hunting for food, as with all other wild cats, spend much of their time seeking food and stalking it. They often have to wait for hours for potential prey to come by and often are unsuccessful at making a kill. Many zoologists have observed that feral cats are mostly scavengers, hanging out next to properties to wait for a hand out.

This "begging" and opportunistic behavior started with the domestication of the cat approximately 4,000 years ago. Cats congregated around grain storage barrels, attracted by the rodents who fed off the spilled grain. Cats are opportunistic feeders and hunters, living off the easiest source of available food and will scavenge from human refuse.

The cat is generally known as a rodent specialist, because it's preferred sit-and-wait strategy is much better suited to catching mice and young rabbits. Cats will wait for hours outside burrows for these animals to come out. Even though birds can fly in any direction and are more difficult to catch, some cats seem to become bird specialists and learn to raid nests and burrows for ground nesting birds. A wildlife biologist recently said that researchers were "obsessively preoccupied with perdition by cats and often overlooked other causes of wildlife depletion." An investigative journalist found many people were unaware of the international studies conducted during the past forty years, all clearly reflecting the predominance of feline perdition on mammals over birds. The Churcher study of 70 cats in a rural area brought about an outcry that cats were killing 100 million birds and small mammals in Britain each year. Roger Tabor, British naturalist and biologist, say of the study: "It is not realistic to multiply the numbers of catches of these (70) rural cats by the entire cat population of Britain. Most cats are town cats with small ranges, and catch fewer items of prey than the village cats of this survey. The mesmeric effect of big numbers seems to have stultified reason." Tabor goes on to say the survey found the house cat is a "significant predator" and not that it was devastating Britain's bird population. Although a quarter of the town's house sparrows was consumed by cats each year, after each breeding season the sparrow population doubled. In winter many people feed garden birds, while nest boxes and domestic buildings provide additional nesting sites and in this way bird populations are kept well above "natural" levels.

Many blame caregivers for perpetuating the problem by feeding stray and feral cats. While it is true supplemental feeding creates healthier animals and increases the chance of more kittens surviving, feral colonies survive even if only meager food sources such as rubbish and rodents are available. This has been proven in deserts and on deserted islands throughout the world where ferula's survive without any nearby human habitation.

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