19 September, 2014

Dear Sir,

Re: Feral cat explosion

The response to my letter has been significant and the feral cat problem is an emotive one. For the record, my family has had domestic cats for generations and we have at least six cat companions buried on our property. We don’t hate domestic cats and even tried adopting a feral cat who appeared about 25 years ago. He was fine at first but became aggressive towards our other cat, so we took him to the SPCA.

We know the difference between human, dog, toad, lizard, bird and cat faeces.

We have only one dog in our area and he is not allowed to stray off his property due to “invisible fencing”. Feral cats defecate on roads, paths, lawns and gardens. Some attempt may be made to bury waste. In thin areas of lawn they may scratch a hole but there is nothing to cover the waste.

They often walk, squat and walk away without attempting to cover. In gardens the waste can be buried or an attempt made, usually depending upon when the ground was last worked. Our domesticated cats always used a litter box. A decade ago I would very rarely find cat faeces on our property and until recent years I there was never multiple piles of cat faeces.

We used to have large lizards, up to 8 inches long around our home. I haven’t seen one above 4 inches long in years, but I accept that the decline could also be due to the explosion of introduced kiskadees.

I haven’t seen a ground dove or mourning dove in years and cat birds are now rare. We have stopped feeding birds because feral cats would hide under the ferns by the bird baths and pounce on unsuspecting birds.

Thirty years ago I perhaps saw one small rat a year. Rats have never been a problem and by keeping food waste to a minimum kept them away. I’d take the occasional rat over hoards of feral cats any day.

While the BFAB policy was no doubt honourable in its intent, and the initial problem was no doubt caused by irresponsible owners not spaying or neutering their own cats or dumping unwanted pets, it is BFAB’s actions that are now the primary cause of the ongoing problem and the negative consequences for the homes around their feeding stations.

The numbers of feral cats is now so great that no relief will be afforded to neighbourhoods where BFAB has established feeding stations without fundamental changes in policy. BFAB have never caught all the feral cats and with their cessation of capture, spay or neuter and release programme for an unspecified time, the numbers are growing exponentially. Any reintroduction of the capture and release programme will still see feeding station neighbourhoods plagued with feral cats for generations.

There really is no option but for Government to immediately mandate that all domestic cats be licensed and microchipped, with all but licensed breeder’s cats being spayed or neutered. As to feral cats there is no other option but to capture them all over time.

BFAB can then decide what to do with the cats that nobody wants to adopt. BFAB cannot continue to force small neighbourhoods to deal with the aftermath of others’ failings. I’m sorry, but enough is enough, if you want these feral cats you take them and look after them yourselves.

Campaign for feral cat removal