Abstract
From 2006 to 2017, stray or free-roaming cats ranged from 35 to 54% of all animals going into the public shelter in Hillsborough County, Florida. Shelter overcrowding of cats, including free-roaming, feral, or community cats, is a major problem in parts of the world. Issues with free-roaming cats include the welfare of the cats themselves, public health and zoonotic diseases, spread of diseases to other species or pet cats, public nuisance, and predation of wildlife. Animal control is a government function and ultimately a taxpayer issue. This paper describes three methods of humane, nonlethal management of free-roaming cat populations that were successfully applied in Hillsborough County, Florida: low-income spay/neuter vouchers; small- and large-scale trap, neuter, vaccinate, and return (TNVR); and return to field (RTF). The methods used were contrary to the long-accepted practice of using euthanasia to control cat populations and generated opposition among certain stakeholders. While the human population of the county increased by 14.6% from 2010 to 2017, the methods used to control free-roaming cats assisted in achieving a 51% decrease in intake since 2007 and increased the live-release rate to 81.8% of cats taken in at the Pet Resources Center in 2017. This paper examines how this change in intake was achieved despite opposition to these programs.
Highlights
Governmental agencies are responsible for controlling the excess population at public animal shelters [1]
This paper reports empirical results from a study of three nonlethal free-roaming cat management programs undertaken by the only open-access animal shelter in Hillsborough County and two non-profits in southwest Florida, where citizens and community organizations were able to significantly decrease shelter intake and increase the live-release rate
Over the period analyzed (2002–2017) more than 38,000 Spay/Neuter Voucher Program (SNVP) cat surgeries were performed, 86,000 TNVR surgeries were performed by Animal Coalition of Tampa (ACT) and Humane Society of Tampa Bay (HSTB) (Figure 2), and 3,918 return to field (RTF) surgeries were performed (Table 2)
Summary
Governmental agencies are responsible for controlling the excess population at public animal shelters [1]. A major part of the excess consists of unlicensed, free-roaming cats, sometimes referred to as feral (unsocialized) cats, community cats (which may be owned but unlicensed), and strays. There are a variety of estimates of the number of free-roaming cats in the United States. The highest estimate is 60–100 million; a more conservative estimate is 30–45 million [2] These cats can produce litters of 1–6 kittens and on average have kittens 1.6 times a year [3]. The population of the county is 1,408,566 [14] and has been growing steadily, by 19.8% from 1990 to 2000 and by 17.6% from 2000 to 2007. A majority of the population lives in the urban part of the county, with only 3.5% living in census-defined rural areas. There are 580,323 housing units in the county [14]
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