You may be wondering what I mean by the title “Why We are not a Cat Removal Service”, let me fill you in on what it’s all about.
Many people, due to lack of experience or lack of positive experience with feral or community cats, will reach out to organizations that work with community cats like us to get a local community cat fixed; sounds great, right? But what they are also wanting is for us to take the cat away and move it to a new location. Which is not something we do- or at least that’s our last resort, as it’s always best for the cat, and the community, for the cat to be returned to where it calls home.
The reasons why we don’t simply remove the cat(s) are based on science & evidence-based methods for feline (and other species) population control.
Now, what science am I talking about? Well, studies have shown that when we remove an invasive species from an area, others of that species will just move in and thrive due to the “vacuum effect”. The above graphic demonstrates this well. However, we’re going to take this a step further.
I want you to imagine that there’s a small lake, with tiny rodents (squirrels, rats, mice) and birds and some flowers all living on the lake’s shores. There are trees and bushes for protection and shelter. Beautiful place for some cats to live, right? There are food and water resources, and shelter. The basics of what all mammals need- including cats. So imagine there are 4 intact female cats and 2 intact males all of the sexual maturity, so there’s screaming and fighting amongst the 6 as the males’ fight for a partner and then the females fight off unwanted attention, the males are also spraying as a means to mark their territory. This is when we get called in, to prevent unwanted kittens and to remove the “disturbance” or “nuisance”. Now, if we remove these 6 cats, neuter & vaccinate them and they go to barns, those 6 cats are going to be stressed out from the change of scenery, the new faces and being unsure of food sources. 8/10 of these cats if not contained for 6+ weeks (safely) will leave and not return as they have no association of to where they are; and of those remaining, past the 6-week containment or half will end up leaving or getting sick from the stress
In this same scenario back at the lake, a pregnant from another colony is looking for a new place to give birth to her kittens because her colony was disturbed by construction. This lake still has the resources available and there’s no competition for them, so she makes her nest and gives birth to her litter of 6; half male and half female. It only takes them 5 months to reach sexual maturity and it’s only two months after that that another 18 kittens are born while the original female has already found another mate and has given birth to 2 more litters in this time. This is what is known as the vacuum effect. We have not addressed the root cause of why the cats have chosen to reside in this area, we have just made it easier for more to move in. However, if we do TNR (Trap, Neuter (vaccinate), Return), those same 6 cats will still be there not reproducing but preventing new ones from using the resources. This is how TNR is most effective in population control.
Furthermore, the typical complaints we as rescuers hear about intact cats are that they smell, they spray, and they fight. But once these cats are neutered, they lose the very hormones that cause these behaviours and can usually live quiet and typical lives without causing any problems for people sharing their space.
These same arguments can be made for wild dogs, hogs, cats and even squirrels.
And this is why we are not a cat removal service.
Below are links to more resources regarding TNR and the vacuum effect.
Resources:
Friends for Life Animal Shelter: Discover the Truth about the vacuum effect
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