A solution to Martin’s cat problems
Published: Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Updated: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 09:03
Recently a member of our faculty had a column run to help raise awareness for a group that has been traveling around feeding several cat colonies around Martin, but I am here to tell you that this band of bandito cat feeders are doing much more harm to the community than they are good.
In this recently published article, Dr. Heidi Huse was addressing the lack of volunteers to help feed Martin’s cat population. They are feeding three ‘colonies’ according to Dr. Huse. In her article she stated that, “the lack of long-term volunteers and funding keeps us from making serious progress in reducing Martin’s unwanted cat population.” I urge you to read that quote as many times as necessary to understand that their idea to reduce Martin’s cat population is to feed these stray animals. Animals that for years thrived on their own in the wild.
While I applaud the effort to help reduce the population of felines in the area, I urge any of you taking the steps that these people are taking to stop immediately. Those of you taking it upon yourselves to prepare a smorgasbord of food for these stray animals are just as much part of the problem as the cats themselves are.
As long as these cats are being fed they are going to stay, and there will be more of them. These cats will not only hang around campus making a mess of things, but they will reproduce. I’m sure many of you have already seen kittens around campus.
While many of you reading this are going to peg me as an enemy to animal kingdom, and I’m sure to get another complaint letter from PETA, I am writing this to offer a solution.
These cats need to be taken away to shelters not catered to in the quad. Feeding these animals is not only attracting more cats, but raccoons and opossums as well. UTM has long been known for its campus, one most of us would consider the most beautiful in the state. However, with more stray animals running loose it’s only a matter of time before they tear things up around here and let’s be honest, this food is going to have to come out somewhere. Maybe there are volunteers following them with litter boxes as well.
Several students and members of staff have complained about this issue and it’s time something is done. There is no reason that I should have to worry about stepping in feline fecal matter while I walk to class, but I do. These animals need to be removed, not catered to.
In closing, I want to make one thing very clear. I am in no way attempting to attack these people on a personal level. As I mentioned, I applaud their efforts, but they are part of the problem, not the solution. If you really want to help there are plenty of local animal shelters in the areas that would provide far better care for these animals than the cruel streets of Martin would.
9 comments
Here Kitty Kitty
A silenced .22 caliber rifle in capable hands has been proven to effectively mitigate feral cat populations in other areas.
Cat LoversAnon
More cats means less mice :D Yeah, less of other more likeable things, but hey...
Also, the idea that cats should be rounded up and put in a pound is a bad idea - no kill or not. They won't get the attention they need which means cruelly locking them away. If a cat is disturbing you by killing a pet gerbil you left on the porch, or that pet hamster you let roam in the yard, then I guess I could see it; but why not just kill it for being a pest? Locking it away in hopes that 'someone' will take it is cruel... and if they don't like their new owner, the cat will run away and get back to what it was doing in the first place... If it's a pest, deal with it (in a humane fashion). If not, don't be cruel...
Also, the idea that cats should be rounded up and put in a pound is a bad idea - no kill or not. They won't get the attention they need which means cruelly locking them away. If a cat is disturbing you by killing a pet gerbil you left on the porch, or that pet hamster you let roam in the yard, then I guess I could see it; but why not just kill it for being a pest? Locking it away in hopes that 'someone' will take it is cruel... and if they don't like their new owner, the cat will run away and get back to what it was doing in the first place... If it's a pest, deal with it (in a humane fashion). If not, don't be cruel...
Alum
I love this. "Taking care of the cats should be the responsibility of the owners." "Just get them spayed/neutered." "Feeding them will bring more."Wherever the cats are gathering, they are in Martin, and they are homeless. They're going to hang around human populations because that's where the food is. I know you guys have this idea that cats are wild animals and can fend for themselves, but here's a newsflash: WE DOMESTICATED THEM. They die in the "wild" because they fight with other animals over territory and food, and they continue to breed. You can't blame the cat overpopulation on the people feeding them.
As for getting them spayed/neutered, yeah, that's a great freaking idea. The kind that would be helped by funding to small groups willing to catch, capture, and release animals. Hmm. I wonder what kind of people would be willing to spend their time and energy on such an endeavor? Oh right.
As for the responsibility of the owners, nobody's arguing that. But when owners DON'T take responsibility, whose supposed to clean up the mess? This is not how the world works, people. The only way to responsibly create change is by working together for positive solutions, not shoving the problem out of the way so you don't have to deal with it.
As for finding out who goes out and abuses and kills animals, I'd take a closer look at that first commenter.
As for getting them spayed/neutered, yeah, that's a great freaking idea. The kind that would be helped by funding to small groups willing to catch, capture, and release animals. Hmm. I wonder what kind of people would be willing to spend their time and energy on such an endeavor? Oh right.
As for the responsibility of the owners, nobody's arguing that. But when owners DON'T take responsibility, whose supposed to clean up the mess? This is not how the world works, people. The only way to responsibly create change is by working together for positive solutions, not shoving the problem out of the way so you don't have to deal with it.
As for finding out who goes out and abuses and kills animals, I'd take a closer look at that first commenter.
Anonymous
The ONLY difference between rats and cats these days is that people who own and love pet-rats aren't severely mentally unbalanced and trying to hoard sterilized feral-rat populations on other people's public and private properties -- while also relentlessly petitioning all their lawmakers to do so.Pet-rat owners, and all other types of pet owners, at least have THEIR sh** together.If only the same were true of all these mentally-ill TNR cat-hoarders.(I still think it's their cats' Toxoplasma gondii parasites in the cat-lovers' brains that make them so unfalteringly blind to their own stupidity, hypocrisy, and absolute absurdity.)This psychotic and delusional "No-Kill" religion (conceived of, based on, and fueled by their own relentless fear of death) is the DIRECT CAUSE of the most heinous, widespread, and longest lasting animal abuse in the history of humanity.There's far worse things than death. Read it and weep if you think saving more animals' lives is going to give them a life worth living.notesfromadogwalker.com/2012/07/21/how-i-failed-as-a-rescuer-lessons-from-a-sanctuary/
Anonymous
The shelters in Martin are no-kill. Red Fern is one of the first ones that comes to mind, and they are definitely no-kill. Also, pretty sure that Heidi Huse did not mention all that stuff about the trap, neuter, return method. If she had actually hit the 500-word mark like Pacer asks for with letters to the editor then maybe she could have been more educated herself and actually talk more scientifically about why she wants to feed them. It's a double standard to get mad at Stringfield for not being really scientific when Huse wasn't either. Read the article: http://www.utmpacer.com/viewpoints/assistant-professor-reaches-out-to-fellow-animal-lovers-1.2989923#.UUanGHzwLR5
It is less educated than Stringfield's. Also, why is everyone so worked up over cats when Pacer has a great viewpoints section focused on things like the SGA legislation that was voted on last week (http://www.utmpacer.com/viewpoints/editorial-proposed-sga-legislation-1.3008936#.UUan7XzwLR4) and respect (http://www.utmpacer.com/viewpoints/respect-elders-respect-each-other-1.3008935#.UUaoeHzwLR4). This is called an opinion, and I didn't know that cats could be such a big freaking deal.
It is less educated than Stringfield's. Also, why is everyone so worked up over cats when Pacer has a great viewpoints section focused on things like the SGA legislation that was voted on last week (http://www.utmpacer.com/viewpoints/editorial-proposed-sga-legislation-1.3008936#.UUan7XzwLR4) and respect (http://www.utmpacer.com/viewpoints/respect-elders-respect-each-other-1.3008935#.UUaoeHzwLR4). This is called an opinion, and I didn't know that cats could be such a big freaking deal.
Anonymous
Here's how these ignorant, self-serving, and uneducated TNR-advocates are destroying all life on the planet. The TNR CON-GAME FACT: Trap & Kill failed because cats cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control. FACT: Trap, Neuter, & Re-Abandon (TNR) is an even bigger abject failure because these man-made ecological disasters cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control, and they also continue to cruelly annihilate all native wildlife (from the smallest of prey up to the top predators that are starved to death), and the cats continue to spread many deadly diseases that they carry today -- FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO VACCINES AGAINST THEM. Many of which are even listed as bioterrorism agents. (Such as Tularemia and The Plague -- Yes, people have already died from cat-transmitted plague in the USA. No fleas nor rats even required. The cats themselves carry and transmit the plague all on their own.) FACT: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY _NOTHING_ HUMANE ABOUT TNR. Nearly every last TNR'ed cat dies an inhumane death by road-kill, from cat and animal attacks, environmental poisons, starvation, dehydration, freezing to death, infections, parasites, etc. And if very very lucky humanely shot to death or re-trapped and drowned (the two most common methods employed on all farms and ranches to protect their gestating livestock's offspring and valuable native wildlife dying from cats' Toxoplasmosis parasites). This doesn't begin to count the thousands of defenseless native animals that cats skin alive and disembowel alive for their daily and hourly play-toys. The only difference in destroying cats immediately and humanely instead of trapping, sterilizing, then releasing them to an inhumane death; is that money isn't going into an HSUS or SPCA board-member's pocket, veterinarian's pocket, cat-food company CEO's pocket, or a drug-company CEO's pocket. And that's the ONLY difference! FACT: Cats are a man-made (through selective breeding) invasive species. And as such, are no less of a man-made environmental disaster than any other caused by man. Cats are even worse than an oil-spill of continent-sized proportions. They not only kill off rare and endangered marine-mammals along all coastlines from run-off carrying cats' Toxoplasma gondii parasites, they destroy the complete food-chain in every ecosystem where cats are found. From smallest of prey gutted and skinned alive for cats' tortured play-toys, up to the top predators that are starved to death from cats destroying their ONLY food sources. (Precisely what cats caused on my own land not long ago.) FACT: Hunted To Extinction (or in this case, extirpation of all outdoor cats) is the ONLY method that is faster than a species like cats can exponentially out-breed and out-adapt to. Especially a man-made invasive species like these cats that can breed 2-4X's faster than any naturally occurring cat-species. FACT: In _TWELVE_YEARS_ Alley Cat ALL-LIES of NYC have only reduced feral cats in their own city by 0.08% to 0.024% (as the months go on that percentage becomes more insignificant), allowing more than 99.92% to 99.976% to exponentially breed out of control. Here's how Alley-Cat-ALL-LIES' deceptive math works: If you TNR 4 cats and 3 get flattened by cars this translates to 75% fewer feral-cats everywhere. Alley Cat ALL-LIES can't even reduce cats in their own city, yet they promote it as a worldwide solution. Then even bigger fools fall for it and promote it. FACT: When researching over 100 of the most "successful" TNR programs worldwide, JUST ONE trapped more than 0.4%. Oregon's 50,000 TNR'ed cats (the highest rate I found) is 4.9% of all ferals in their state. Yet, by applying population growth calculus on the unsterilized 95.1% they will have trapped only 0.35% of all cats in their state sometime this year. Less than 0.4% is a far cry from the required 80%-90% to be the least bit effective. FACT: Their mythical "vacuum effect" is a 100% LIE. A study done by the Texas A&M University proved that any perceived "vacuum" is just the simple case that CATS ATTRACT CATS. Get rid of them all and there's no cats there to attract more. I proved this myself by shooting and burying hundreds of them on my own land. ZERO cats replaced them FOR OVER 3 YEARS NOW. If you want more cats, keep even one of them around, more will find you. That university study also found that sterilized cats very poorly defend any territory. Non-sterilized cats, being more aggressive, take over the sterilized cats' resources (shelter & food if any). If there is any kind of "vacuum effect" at all, it is that sterilizing cats cause non-sterilized cats to restore the reproductive void. FACT: During all this investigation I have discovered something that is unfaltering without fail. Something that you can bet your very life on and win every last time. That being -- IF A TNR CAT-HOARDER IS TALKING THEN THEY ARE LYING. 100% guaranteed!...
Anonymous
I couldn't disagree with you more. Obviously, it's easy to write an article based on opinions because it takes so much more effort to do research. However, I'm here to clarify the truth on this matter. First, before someone writes an article like Mr. Bradley, he should have gotten his facts straight by reading carefully. Mrs. Huse and her group do not just feed these cats, they feed the cats so they can be lured into traps, allowing for them to be sterilized to prevent more kittens. Next, Bradley obviously has no knowledge about how shelters work. Shelters are already running low on resources. Do you think they have enough money to feed cats who are so feral they will never be adopted? No, these cats will be put to sleep. The ASPCA has stated that the only proven way to control feral cat colonies is by following the trap, neuter, return method. This way the cats live without multiplying. People can't just follow along with the "not my problem" mindset and get every problem in the "out of sight, out of mind" category. I definitely did not see Bradley saying he was going to do anything to help with the situation. Next, I have been going to utm campus for the last 10 years and I have only ever seen cats on two different occasions, so Bradley is vastly over exaggerating the situation. Overall, this writer need to take the time to educate himself on the subject before writing such a scientifically incorrect article. I understand he has no scientific experience whatsoever, seeing how he is a communications major and writes mostly on sports, but I cannot stand people pretending they have some authority on subjects they know nothing about. And lastly, if you are so worried about stepping in feces, you should probably put your phone down and watch where you are walking.
Anonymous
I totally agree!! Please stop feeding them, they will only stick around and reproduce! Honestly, if you are so gun-ho about allowing them to stay as strays then please capture them, have them checked for Feline Leukemia and FIV, if they test negative for those diseases then have them spayed/neutered, ear notched/cropped (to signify that they are feral but have been fixed), then you can release them back into the 'wild'. This way they can live the remained of their lives as feral cats but will not add to the feline population while doing so AND they won't contribute to a growing number of diseased cats.
Anonymous
Most of the shelters in the area are kill shelters. I can see where the abundance of cats can be a problem but honestly I have seen maybe 3 on campus all year. I have seen more large dogs than cats. Anyway, is it possible that by feeding these cats they are domesticating them which would allow for an easier capture to find them homes? I know at least one cat on campus is mine. He would ride under my car for miles and would stay there until we got home. Apparently one day he rode to school and I never seen him again until months later I spotted him on campus. I tried to catch him to bring him home but he didn't recognize me I guess and was to busy chasing what I assumed to be a female. The fact of the matter is, however, that cats are free roaming animals if left outside. Since campus is so close to a lot of residential areas there are going to be numerous animals roaming the grounds at any given time. There is nothing you can do about it unless you want to have to pound on campus every day snatching up every dog and cat in sight. It is silly in my opinion to worry about such a trivial matter, especially feces. This is going to happen ANYWHERE. Be it on campus, a local park, ANYWHERE you go because of dogs, cats, squirrels, birds, and other wild animals. It is unpleasant but also a part of nature. If you are that worried about it, maybe the sidewalks are a better option. I feel like maybe there are more things that can be worried about on this campus than the minimal cat population. Also, just to be clear, this is in no way an attack on the author of this article. I am simply stating my opinion on the matter and do not intend to come off as disrespectful to the author or anyone else for that matter.
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