Feral Cat
A feral cat is a cat which has been separated from domestication, whether through abandonment, loss, or running away, and becomes wild. The term also refers to descendants of such cats, but not to Wild Cats, whose ancestors were never domesticated. Adult feral cats that were born feral usually cannot be socialized. Adult feral cats that were born in a domestic environment and reverted to the feral state can sometimes be re-socialised. Feral kittens, however, can often be socialized to live with humans if they are taken from a feral colony before they are about twelve weeks old. About 10% of cats cannot be socialised at all due to genetic factors.
Feral cats may live alone, but are usually found in large groups called feral colonies with communal nurseries, depending on resource availability. Many abandoned pet cats join these colonies out of desperation; these cats can usually be adopted into a new home. The average life span of a feral cat that survives beyond kittenhood is usually cited as less than two years while a domestic house cat lives an average of twelve to sixteen years. However feral cats aged nineteen (Cat Action Trust) and twenty-six (Cats Protection) have been reported where food and shelter are available.
White spotting can also occur with any of the tabby patterns, resulting in tabby-and-white bicolors. Colorpoint (Himalayan pattern) cats can have bicolor points although this variation is not recognised for exhibition. The body markings of bicolor colorpoints become clearer with age as the body fur of colorpoint cats darkens as the cats grow older and the white patches become more visible.Cityscapes and North America are not native environments for the cat. The domestic cat comes from temperate or hot, often dry, climates and was distributed throughout the world by humans. Cats are extremely adaptable and feral felines have been found in conditions of extreme cold and heat. They are more susceptible to cold, damp conditions than to cold alone. With a need for a diet of 90% protein, many feral cats lack adequate nutrition. In addition, they have no defense against or understanding of such predators as dogs, coyotes and even automobiles. The current population of twenty to forty million feral felines in the United States is due, initially, to human interference by environmental introduction and later, by simple human irresponsibility and neglect.
Major Places with Feral Cats: United States of America: In the United States, there is an ongoing debate about how to deal with feral cat populations. There is little doubt that feral cats are extremely effective at controlling or even eradicating small animal populations, and some cite the utility of cats in controlling populations of verminous rodent species. However, conservationists argue that feral cats contribute greatly to the killing of songbirds and other endangered birds, with estimates that bird loss is at 100 million a year due to predation. However research into the causes of bird deaths has also found that transparent windows constitute the biggest threat that birds face.
Additionally, it is argued that the resurgence of other small predators such as the gray fox (urocyon cinereoargenteus), fisher or pekan (martes pennanti), coyote (canis latrans), and bobcat (lynx rufus) is a contributing factor in conserved bird deaths. Many of these animals also prey on feral cats. While it is widely agreed that the loss of conserved species due to fragmentation of native habitat by humans far exceeds deaths due to feral cat predation, some still feel it is necessary to control feral populations.
Websites such as The Feral Cat Hunt advocate culling feral cat populations by hunting, arguing that it is the most cost effective method of population control. However, a proposal in the state of Wisconsin to legalize the hunting of feral cats in an attempt to reduce their population (April 2005) was blocked by the state's lawmakers. South Dakota and Minnesota allow wild cats to be shot.
Trap-Neuter-Return or TNR programs, presented as a humane method of feral cat population control, are facilitated by many volunteers and organizations in the States. These organizations trap and sterilize feral cats as well as providing inoculation against rabies and other viruses. Sometimes long-lasting flea treatments are also applied before release.
Frequently, attending veterinarians cut the tip off one ear to mark the individual as spayed or neutered and inoculated, as these cats will more than likely find themselves trapped again. Volunteers often continue to feed and give care to these cats throughout their lives, unfortunately, it becomes very difficult to domesticate and adopt a feral cat unless it is trapped and socialized before four months of age. October 16 is National Feral Cat Day in the United States.
Australia: Feral cats have been present in Australia since before European settlement, and may have arrived with Dutch shipwrecks in the 17th century. Intentional releases were made in the late 19th century to control mice, rabbits and rats.
The feral cat has been an ecological disaster in Australia, inhabiting most ecosystems except dense rainforest, and being implicated in the extinction of several marsupial and placental mammal species but there is no proof to support this view. (Cats are not believed to have been a factor in the extinction of the only mainland bird species to be lost since European settlement, the Paradise Parrot; their role in the loss of rare species on Australasian islands, however, has been significant.) Environment Australia reports that ˇ§convincing evidence that cats exert a significant effect on native wildlife throughout the Australian mainland is lacking.ˇ¨Folklore has it that some feral cats in Australia have grown so large as to cause inexperienced observers to claim sightings of other species, and subsequent news stories of mysterious animals being sighted.
Typical locations for such sightings are south-west Western Australia, and the Nullarbor.Control programs are difficult to devise due to the nocturnal and solitary nature of feral cats, broad distribution in the landscape and continuous additions to the population from abandoned domestic cats. Due to the danger posed to humans handling the animal, captured feral cats are almost always killed. Although trap neuter and return programs such as those in the United States are not prevalent in Australia, they are now being introduced in some urban and suburban areas such as Adelaide. More recently, such programs have been introduced in Sydney by the "World League for Protection of Animals".