Trap-Neuter-Release/Return (TNR) in the United States evolved from non-lethal control programs practiced for decades in the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe, and Africa. The purpose of TNR is to reduce feral cat populations by halting reproduction without causing harm to the cats. This practice is endorsed by numerous institutions and organizations, including the American Veterinary Medical Association, Cornell and Tufts Universities’ Schools of Veterinary Medicine, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society of the United States.

Feral cat overpopulation exists because for decades no attention was given to cats, their prolific breeding, and the inevitable results of abandoning intact felines to fend for themselves. Nationally, more than 30 years of trapping and euthanizing cats has done nothing to reduce feral cat populations. In fact, communities using this approach, including Eau Claire County, generally have more cats than before. Simply removing cats only makes territory and food resources available for other cats to move in. This is referred to as the vacuum effect, and it has been observed worldwide. Feral cats are prolific breeders and they will rapidly reestablish their numbers.

There are thousands of active TNR programs in North America, many of which have clearly documented a reduction in the population of feral cats in their communities. Many communities in Wisconsin have already organized a TNR program, with much success. Through Wisconsin Humane Society’s Community Cat Caregiver program, 850 feral cats have been spayed/neutered since the program’s inception in 2001. In Green Bay, a group called Cats Anonymous has established 170 feral cat colonies in their area and spayed/neutered over 1,100 feral cats in the last two years. Locally, ECCHA has effectively managed three feral cat colonies using TNR methods since November 2005. Listed below are statistics from many different colonies to support this idea.

• A colony of 28 adult cats and 32 kittens in Washington DC were sterilized in the Fall of 1991. To date, no new cats have moved into the colony, as a direct result of intensive feral cat management in that area since 1990.
• From 1993-1999, the Feral Cat Coalition in San Diego, California spayed more than 10,000 feral cats (and continues to do so). This has resulted in a spectacular drop of as much as 50 percent in the city’s total animal shelter intakes.
• A TNR project involving 155 cats in eleven colonies on the University of Central Florida campus began in January 1991. By its conclusion in April 2002, every colony was reduced in number, with final populations ranging from one to five cats. Three colonies had disbanded altogether and were not reestablished with new cats, despite the continued existence of a food source. No kittens were known to be born on campus after 1995, and an aggressive adoption program resulted in the removal of 47 percent of the original cats and kittens.
• In 2000 ECCHA trapped and euthanized almost 100 cats and kittens, in an effort to reduce overpopulation of feral cats at a residence located next to a Mobile Home Park. In the Spring of 2005, ECCHA was called to again assist in reducing feral cat population numbers at the residence. They trapped and euthanized 63 feral cats from the same location. When ECCHA decided to try TNR methods at that residence in November 2005, an additional 8 cats were trapped and sterilized. In August 2006 they trapped and sterilized an additional 3 cats from the residence. The caretaker at the residence says that no new cats have entered the colony since 2006. To support this statement, ECCHA set traps again in May and June 2007, and no new, unaltered cats were found to be at the residence.

Many people feel that cats are to blame for the depletion of songbirds and other animals. However there is no strong support for this viewpoint except in certain instances of fragile populations in isolated or fragmented ecosystems, such as on an island. Two studies most often quoted to support placing blame on feral cats are the Stanley Temple study (also referred to as “The University of Wisconsin Study”) and the Churcher/Lawton study. However, over sixty studies on feral cats have been written from different continents throughout the world, all showing three very important points:

• Cats are opportunistic feeders, eating what is most easily available. Feral cats are scavengers, and many rely on garbage and handouts from people.
• Cats are rodent specialists. Birds make up a small percentage of their diet when they rely solely on hunting for food.
• Cats may prey on a population without destroying it. If this were not so, we would no longer have any mice around.

Other studies have shown that different factors pose much more of a threat to songbirds, including destruction of habitat, hunting and killing by humans, and use of pesticides. An article in the July/August Audubon magazine quoted a study that was organized by the U.S. Geological Survey, with the help of Audubon biologists and information from the Breeding Bird Survey. The following are listed as major threats to common bird species: large-scale agriculture, intensive pine-plantation, forestry, logging, mining, drilling, global warming, transportation, housing and commercial development, acid rain, chemical control of pests reduce food supply and cause direct poisoning, recent push for ethanol and other biofuels converts habitat to cornfields, burning and mowing nesting fields in the breeding season when young are in the nest, human development along lakes, oil spills and water contamination, poaching by humans in Central and South America, exotic invasive species of plants, new disease, loss of wetland, and collision with FCC towers.

It is also important to keep in mind that TNR programs aim to reduce the numbers of feral cats. So the small threat that feral cats may pose to songbirds and other wildlife should decrease as populations of feral cats are reduced in size through TNR efforts. For those individuals who believe that feral cats do threaten songbirds and wildlife, a TNR program will certainly not increase this threat.

Ultimately, the goal of a TNR Program in Eau Claire County would be to reduce the feral cat population in a safe and humane manner, and to minimize the need for euthanasia of feral cats at ECCHA. We also aim to establish a successful TNR program that other communities in Wisconsin can model and use to educate the public about TNR.

To accomplish these things, volunteers are needed to help trap and transport feral cats, assist feral cat colony caretakers in feeding and providing appropriate shelter for the cats, and in monitoring each colony and keeping accurate data about the feral cats in each colony.

If you are interested becoming a part of these efforts, please contact Lauren at 715.839.4747 x25 or director@eccha.org.

Download a copy of the Program Agreement Form for feral cat caregivers involved with our program.

ECCHA will work with as many feral cat colonies in Eau Claire County as we can handle. We have limited financial resources and volunteers for the TNR program, and may not be able to help everyone that approaches us. If you are caring for a feral cat colony and would like to be considered for the TNR program, or if you know the location of a feral cat colony in Eau Claire County, please contact Lauren at 715.839.4747 x25 or director@eccha.org.