South Amboy smart to ban care of feral cats
Home News Tribune Online 07/21/07
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South Amboy's newly imposed ban on the care and feeding of feral cats — those left to roam free in the wild — is a victory for the humane treatment of animals and for the environment. City Council members should be praised for their action and for setting an example that other towns in Middlesex County and beyond can follow.
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A congratulatory nod goes out as well to the Middlesex County Department of Health, whose officials advised the city against allowing trap, neuter and return programs, also known as TNR, within South Amboy's limits.
"From what we're told, the program is a nightmare . . . to track those cats," said city Business Administrator Camille Tooker. "It's not a viable option." Precisely — and a smart decision.
TNR programs have been backed oddly enough by some humane organizations such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. But those endorsers are acting almost entirely on emotion rather than fact, refusing to acknowledge that TNR efforts have not been proved effective in curbing populations of wild cats by controlling their reproductive potential. Rather, feral cats given food and shelter by humans are simply left to eke out a longer but no less excruciating existence. The sustenance put out by human caretakers attracts even more felines to an area, magnifying the threats of disease and large-scale destruction of wildlife.
Just this summer one kitten born to a wild cat in Metuchen was found to have rabies. The kitten was part of a feral cat colony. This shouldn't come as a surprise. Feral cats are naturally suspicious of humans and difficult to catch. Not all can be vaccinated and, of those that are, revaccination is necessary. Feral cats, through their scratches and bites, only raise the risk of injury and disease for humans.
Meanwhile, feral cats kill an estimated 1 million songbirds every year throughout the United States. Many of those winged creatures are already threatened or endangered. Free-roaming cats also prey heavily on small mammals and reptiles, the primary source of food for some hawks and owls. Contrary to assertions by TNR advocates, providing food for the cats does not erase their natural instinct to hunt.
This last bit of science is of particular importance to South Amboy. Although the city is an older industrial community, its waterfront stretches along a valuable slice of migratory flyway and is a key wintering ground for certain types of land and shore birds. The city's new rules undoubtedly will protect a greater percentage of those transient visitors.
As one letter writer to this newspaper put it: "The only purpose a TNR program serves is to avoid euthanasia."
And at great expense.
Misguided as they may be, operators of feral-cat colonies are not villains. They truly believe they are doing some good. The real problem-creators are irresponsible pet owners who allow their pets to run free. Cats should be kept indoors, where they belong.
