The Cohabitation of Humans and Urban Cats in the Anthropocene: The Clash of Welfare Concepts

Filip Jaroš

doi:10.3390/ani11030705

Abstract

Simple SummaryCurrent cultural shifts in Western countries have changed the position of the cat to a companion animal, and its traditional role as a pest controller is no longer recognized by city dwellers. In a growing number of theoretical and field studies, the hunting abilities of cats and their high fertility are perceived as environmental risks. Bringing together theoretical perspectives from human–animal studies, animal ethics, population ecology, and biosemiotics, I highlight the existence of two different ecological (and even cultural) communities inhabiting urban environments: the culture of feral cats and the humano–cat culture of pets. Arguments are given for the essential role of feral cats in the population dynamics of the species when a growing number of pet cats are routinely neutered. Whereas neutering is presented by animal shelters and veterinary institutions as a universal means for improving cat welfare, it is at odds with the psychobiological needs of cats as viewed by a laissez-faire approach. This leads us to the conclusion that instead of one type of management of free-roaming cats, individual solutions should be sought to achieve a balance between the welfare of cats, other species, and human cultures in diverse urban environments.Urban environments are inhabited by several types of feline populations, which we can differentiate as feral cats, free-roaming pets, and confined pets. Due to a shift in the cultural representation of cats from pest controllers to companion animals, cats living semi-independently of humans are perceived increasingly negatively, while the pet population has become the object of intense care. A regulative approach converges with a concern for welfare in the operation and educational campaigns of municipal shelters, which through their implementation of neutering policies have proven to be key players in the contemporary relation of urban cats and humans. The generally widespread notion of cat welfare associated with a secure life comes into tension with the fact that the psychobiological needs of feral cats are significantly different than those of pets. It becomes apparent that individual interactions between humans and cats in urban environments in the Anthropocene are increasingly influenced by the intervention of institutions that can be characterized as seeking to administer the wild.

Highlights

The common blackbird (Turdus merula), for example, is a more recent arrival in urban spaces than cats. As this commentary concerns the problem of cats in urban environments, it does not take into account cases of wild populations threatening endemic species or farm cats occasionally preying on wildlife
In all cases of feral cat management, a consistent implementation would lead to the disappearance of the specific behavioral-social manifestations of urban populations, which significantly mirror the general ecological strategies of domestic cats as a semi-wild species
I have highlighted three main problems of the cohabitation of humans and cats in urban environments: (i) interventions in feral cat colonies; (ii) keeping pets exclusively indoors; (iii) applying across-the-board neutering of all groups of cats except pedigrees. It is characteristic of the Anthropocene era that each of these steps is taken with reference to the declared welfare of individuals, while the specifics of particular cat cultures or cat-human cultures are forgotten [21,26]

Summary

Introduction

The common blackbird (Turdus merula), for example, is a more recent arrival in urban spaces than cats As this commentary concerns the problem of cats in urban environments, it does not take into account cases of wild populations threatening endemic species ( in fragile island ecologies) or farm cats occasionally preying on wildlife. It is justified ( in the Old World) to view free-roaming cats as a natural part of the character of urban areas rather than an invasive species [9,10,11,12]. The aim here is not a comparative study of the development of individual populations, but the utilization of empirical studies to identify the conflicts that arise when applying different approaches to cat welfare

Urban Cat Populations as Distinctive Cultures

Threefold Modeling of Urban Cat-Human Relations

Findings

Conclusions