feral cats
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A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned
domestic cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small Domestication, domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have sh ...
(''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens of generations and become a local
apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator or superpredator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the hig ...
in urban, savannah and bushland environments, and especially on islands where native animals did not evolve alongside predators. Some feral cats may become more comfortable with people who regularly feed them, but even with long-term attempts at
socialization In sociology, socialization (also socialisation – see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is the process of Internalisation (sociology), internalizing the Norm (social), norm ...
, they usually remain aloof and reject human touch. Of the 700 million cats in the world, an estimated 480 million are feral. Feral cats are devastating to wildlife, and conservation biologists consider them to be one of the worst
invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...
on Earth. They are included in the list of the world's 100 worst invasive alien species. Attempts to control feral cat populations are widespread but generally of greatest impact within purpose-fenced reserves. Some
animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...
groups advocate for trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs, also known as trap-neuter-vaccinate-release (TNVR) programs, to prevent feral cats from breeding and being nuisances by spraying urine and fighting over territory. Scientific evidence has demonstrated that TNR is not effective at controlling feral cat populations alone and must be done alongside removal. For TNR to be effective, at least 88% of the cat colony should be neutered which is an unrealistic goal in majority of cases, and any lower rates actually increase cat populations. TNR also takes much longer to eliminate cat colonies as compared to trap and euthanasia and it is more expensive and resource-intensive. TNR receives many criticisms of it being inhumane, to the point that some say that TNR stands for trap-neuter-reabandon, because feral cats do not have good lives and die early from disease, poisoning, predation, vehicle collisions and sometimes violence by humans. A possibly more effective alternative to TNR has been proposed, which is trap-vasectomy-hysterectomy-release (TVHR).


Definitions

The meaning of the term ''feral cat'' varies between professions and countries, and is sometimes used interchangeably with other terms such as ''free-roaming'', ''street'', ''alley,'' or '' community cat''. Some of these terms are also used to refer to ''stray'' cats, although stray and feral cats are generally considered to be different by rescuers,
veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...
s, and researchers. The lines between stray and feral cat are diffuse. The general idea is that owned cats that wander away from their homes may become stray cats, and stray cats that have lived in the wild for some time may become feral. Activists who seek to normalize feral cats in the environment are attempting to rebrand feral cats as ''community cats''. Biologists say that this new term is
euphemistic A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
and distracts from feral cats being an environmental problem, and that it has connotations that falsely imply that feral cats exist with the consent of the communities where they live, and that the public has a moral obligation to support them in the outdoors. Studies have shown that the public does not support there being large numbers of free ranging cats in the outdoors, but that the use of language in surveys appears to influence the levels of support for different management options.


United Kingdom

In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, a feral cat is defined as a cat that chooses not to interact with humans, survives with or without human assistance, and hides or defends itself when trapped rather than allowing itself to be handled. Animal rescuers and veterinarians consider cats to be feral when they had not had much human contact particularly before eight weeks of age, avoid humans, and prefer to escape rather than attack a human. Feral cats are distinguished from domesticated cats based on their levels of socialization, ownership, and confinement, and on the amount of fear of, interaction with, and dependence upon humans. However, veterinarians and rescuers disagreed on whether a feral cat would tend to hiss and spit at or attack a human during an encounter, and disagreed on whether adult feral cats could potentially be
tamed A tame animal is an animal that is relatively tolerant of human presence. Tameness may arise naturally (as in the case, for example, of island tameness) or due to the deliberate, human-directed process of animal training, training an animal agai ...
.


Italy

In
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, feral cats have been protected since 1991, and it is illegal to kill them. In
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, they are surgically neutered by veterinarians of the Veterinary Public Services. Programs for sterilization of stray cats are also implemented in the
Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
and Venice Provinces.


United States

A survey of rescue and veterinary facilities in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
revealed that no widely accepted definition of a feral cat exists. Many facilities used waiting periods to evaluate whether a cat was feral by observing whether the cat became less afraid and evasive over time. Other indicators included the cat's response to touch with an inanimate object, and observation of the cats' social behavior in varying environments such as response to human contact, with a human nearby, or when moved to a quieter environment.


Australia

The Australian government categorizes cats who have no interaction with or assistance from humans as feral, and unowned cats who rely on humans as
semi-feral A semi-feral animal lives predominantly in a feral state but has some contact and experience with humans. This may be because it was born in a domesticated state and then reverted to life in wild conditions, or it may be an animal that grew up i ...
or stray. However, even these so-called 'managed colonies' often have a devastating impact on wildlife as demonstrated in the decimation of native mammals in adjacent reserves, such as occurred with numbats and woylies in Western Australia.


Farm cat

A farm cat is a free-ranging domestic cat that lives in a cat colony on agricultural
farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
s in a
feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...
or
semi-feral A semi-feral animal lives predominantly in a feral state but has some contact and experience with humans. This may be because it was born in a domesticated state and then reverted to life in wild conditions, or it may be an animal that grew up i ...
condition. Farm cats primarily live outdoors and usually shelter in barns. They are partially supplied with food and
milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
, but mainly subsist on hunting
rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
s such as
black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...
,
brown rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat and Norwegian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest Muroidea, muroids, it is a brown or grey ...
,
common vole The common vole (''Microtus arvalis'') is a European rodent. Distribution and habitat The common vole is hardly restricted in means of distribution and habitat and inhabits large areas of Eurasia but, apart from the Orkney vole, not the Br ...
and ''
Apodemus ''Apodemus'' is a genus of Muridae, murid (true mice and rats) containing the field mice as well as other well-known species like the wood mouse and the yellow-necked mouse. The name is unrelated to that of the ''Mus (genus), Mus'' genus, instead ...
'' species. In England, farm cat colonies are present on the majority of farms and consist of up to 30 cats. Female farm cats show
allomothering Allomothering, allomaternal infant care/handling, or non-maternal infant care/handling is performed by any group member other than the mother. Alloparental care is provided by group members other than the genetic father or the mother and thus is ...
behaviour; they use communal nests and take care of kittens of other colony members. Some animal rescue organizations maintain Barn Cat Programs and rehome neutered feral cats to people who are looking for barn cats.


Ship's cat

Domestic cats have been members of ship crews since the beginning of
commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...
navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...
.
Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...
n and
Etrusca The Etruscan civilization ( ) was an ancient civilization created by the Etruscans, a people who inhabited Etruria in ancient Italy, with a common language and culture, and formed a federation of city-states. After adjacent lands had been conqu ...
n traders probably carried cats on board their trading vessels to Italy and the
Mediterranean islands The Mediterranean Sea basin is supposed to host more than 10,000 islands, with 2,217 islands larger than 0.01 km2. The two main island countries in the region are Malta and Cyprus, while other countries with islands in the Mediterranean Sea in ...
.


History

Cats in ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, cats were represented in social and religious scenes dating as early as 1980 BC. Several ancient Egyptian deities were depicted and sculptured with cat-like heads such as Mafdet, Bastet and Sekhmet, representing justice, fertili ...
were
venerated Veneration (; ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Veneration of saints is practiced, ...
for killing
rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
s and
venomous snake ''Venomous snakes'' are species of the suborder Serpentes that are capable of producing venom, which they use for killing prey, for defense, and to assist with digestion of their prey. The venom is typically delivered by injection using hollow ...
s. The need to keep rodents from consuming or contaminating grain crops stored for later human consumption may be the original reason that cats were domesticated. The spread of cats throughout much of the world is thought to have originated in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
. Scientists do not agree on whether cats were domesticated in
Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
or introduced there after domestication.
Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...
n traders brought them to Europe for control of
rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...
populations, and
monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...
s brought them further into Asia.
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
armies also contributed spreading cats and eventually brought them to
Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
. Since then, cats continued to be introduced to new countries, often by
sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...
s or
settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...
s. Cats are thought to have been introduced to Australia in either the 1600s by Dutch shipwrecks, or the late 1700s by English settlers. These domesticated cats began to form feral populations after their offspring began living away from human contact. In the 19th and 20th centuries, several cat specimens were described as wildcat
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
that are considered feral cat populations today: *'' Felis silvestris sarda'', proposed by
Fernand Lataste Fernand Lataste (1847–1934) was a French zoologist and herpetologist born in Cadillac, Gironde. From 1880 to 1884, he collected reptiles and amphibians in North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco), publishing ''"Les missions scientifiques d ...
in 1885, was a skin and a skull of a male cat from Sarrabus in
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
that looked like an
African wildcat The African wildcat (''Felis lybica'') is a small wildcat species with sandy grey fur, pale vertical stripes on the sides and around the face. It is native to Africa, West and Central Asia, and is distributed to Rajasthan in India and Xinjiang ...
(''Felis lybica''), but was more reddish, gray and brown and had longer hair on the back. In the 1980s,
Colin Groves Colin Peter Groves (24 June 1942 – 30 November 2017) was a British-Australian biologist and anthropologist. Groves was professor of biological anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Education Born in Englan ...
assessed values of Schauenberg's index of cat
skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...
s of
zoological specimen A zoological specimen is an animal or part of an animal preserved for scientific use. Various uses are: to verify the identity of a (species), to allow study, increase public knowledge of zoology. Zoological specimens are extremely diverse. Exampl ...
s that originated in the
Mediterranean islands The Mediterranean Sea basin is supposed to host more than 10,000 islands, with 2,217 islands larger than 0.01 km2. The two main island countries in the region are Malta and Cyprus, while other countries with islands in the Mediterranean Sea in ...
. Based on these values, he concluded that Sardinian wildcats are descendants of African wildcats that were introduced from
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
's
Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...
region. Results of zooarchaeological research indicate that Sardinian wildcats descended from domestic cats that were introduced during the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
, and probably originated in the
Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...
. *'' Felis reyi'', proposed by Louis Lavauden in 1929, was a skin and a skull of a specimen from Biguglia in
Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...
that was smaller and darker than the
European wildcat The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Great Britain, Turkey and the Caucasus. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides and has a bushy tail with a bl ...
(''Felis silvestris''), had a much shorter tail than the African wildcat, and differed in fur colour and markings from both. When
Reginald Innes Pocock Reginald Innes Pocock, (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a British zoologist. Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward's ...
reviewed ''Felis'' skins in the collection of the
Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...
, he considered ''Felis reyi'' a
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
of ''Felis lybica sarda'', the Sardinian wild cat. The Corsican wildcat is considered to have been introduced in the early first millennium. The earliest known
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
records of cats date to the early 14th century, but older chronostratigraphic layers revealed fossils of livestock introduced since the
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
. *''Felis lybica jordansi'', proposed by Ernst Schwarz in 1930, was a skull and skin of a male specimen from Santa Margarita in
Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...
that had more pronounced stripes than the African wildcat. This is also considered to have descended from domestic cats introduced to the island. *'' Felis silvestris cretensis'', proposed by Theodor Haltenorth in 1953, was a cat skin purchased in a bazaar in
Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...
that resembled an African wildcat, but had a bushy tail like a European wildcat. Groves considered the Cretan wildcat an introduced feral cat.


Distribution and habitat

The feral cat is the most widely distributed terrestrial carnivore. It occurs between 55° North and 54.3° South
latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...
s in a wide range of climatic zones and
island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...
s in the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
, Indian and
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
s, and the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
, including
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
, Port-Cros, Dassen Island,
Marion Island The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited subantarctic volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean that are administered by South Africa. They are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and P ...
, Juan de Nova Island,
Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...
,
Hahajima Hahajima, Haha Jima, or is the second-largest island within the Bonin or Ogasawara Islands SSE of the Japanese Home Islands. The steeply-sloped island, which is about in area, has a population of 440. It is part of Ogasawara Village in Ogasaw ...
,
Okinawa Island , officially , is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five Japanese archipelago, main islands of Japan. The island is ...
,
Raoul Island Raoul Island (''Sunday Island''; ) is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activit ...
, Herekopare Island,
Stewart Island Stewart Island (, ' glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura, formerly New Leinster) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a la ...
,
Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Protected areas of Tasmania, Tasmania ...
,
Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...
,
San Clemente Island San Clemente Island (Tongva: ''Kinkipar''; Spanish: ''Isla de San Clemente'') is the southernmost of the Channel Islands of California. It is owned and operated by the United States Navy, and is a part of Los Angeles County. It is administer ...
,
Isla Natividad Isla Natividad is an island in the Pacific Ocean 6 km west off Punta Eugenia, the northwestern headland of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. 200 meters off its northwestern end lies Roca María at , with an area of 0.074 km2. I ...
, San José Island, and New Island. Feral cat colonies also occur on the Japanese islands of Ainoshima,
Hahajima Hahajima, Haha Jima, or is the second-largest island within the Bonin or Ogasawara Islands SSE of the Japanese Home Islands. The steeply-sloped island, which is about in area, has a population of 440. It is part of Ogasawara Village in Ogasaw ...
and Aoshima, Ehime. The feral cat population on the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
is mainly of European origin and probably arrived in the 19th century on ships. Feral cat colonies in Rome have been monitored since 1991. Urban feral cats were studied in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
,
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
and
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
.


Behavior and ecology

Some behaviors of feral cats are commonly observed, although there is disagreement among veterinarians, rescuers and researchers on the prevalence of some. In a free-roaming environment, feral cats avoid humans. They do not allow themselves to be handled or touched by humans, and back away or run when they are able to do so. If trapped, they hiss, growl, bare their teeth, or strike out. They remain fairly hidden from humans and will not approach, although some feral cats gradually become more comfortable around humans who feed them regularly. Most feral cats have small
home range A home range is the area in which an animal lives and moves on a periodic basis. It is related to the concept of an animal's territory which is the area that is actively defended. The concept of a home range was introduced by W. H. Burt in 1943. ...
s, although some are more transient and travel long distances. The home ranges of male feral cats, which are generally two or three times larger than those of female cats, are on average under , but can vary from almost to under . This variance is often due to breeding season, access to females, whether the cat is neutered, age, time of day, and availability of prey. Feral cats depend on the presence of human settlement to subsist. Colonies and stray feral cats will settle in urban, suburban, and rural developments like cities and farms, wherever they can find easy access to food or prey animals. Few to no feral cats are found significantly distant from human settlements. While feral cats prey on other small mammals and reptiles, their home ranges don't change to reflect the seasonal availability of prey animals. This indicates that feral cats have a fairly consistent home range, and migration is more representative of mate availability, consistency in human-related food sources, or other less transient stimuli.


Colonies

Feral cats often live in groups called colonies, which are located close to food sources and shelter. Researchers disagree on the existence, extent, and structure of
dominance hierarchies In the zoological field of ethology, a dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social groups interact, creating a ranking system. Different types of ...
among feral cats in colonies. Different types of hierarchies have been observed in colonies, including despotic and linear hierarchies. Some colonies are organized in more complex structures, such as relative hierarchies, where social status of individual cats varies with location, time of day, or the activity the cats are engaged in, particularly feeding and mating. A 'managed colony' is taken care of by humans who supply food and water to the cats, provide shelters and veterinary care, implement trap-neuter-return programs, find foster homes for cats that can be socialized for eventual adoption, and educate people in the neighborhood. Feral cats are known to move from colony to colony when home ranges overlap. Additionally, colony populations fluctuate as cats leave family homes and some feral and
semi-feral A semi-feral animal lives predominantly in a feral state but has some contact and experience with humans. This may be because it was born in a domesticated state and then reverted to life in wild conditions, or it may be an animal that grew up i ...
cats get socialized to home life and become family pets.


Socialization

Feral kittens can be trapped and socialized, then adopted into a home. The age at which a kitten becomes difficult to socialize is not agreed upon, but suggestions generally range from seven weeks to four months of age. Although older cats can sometimes be socialized, it is a very long and difficult process, and the cat rarely becomes friendly and may remain fearful. In a 2013 study with British participants, rescuers tended to be more willing than veterinarians to attempt to tame adult feral cats. Veterinarians tended to be more opposed to this practice, with some expressing concerns for the welfare of such a cat in a home environment. In a 2010 interview survey with veterinarians and rescuers in the United States, 66% of respondents had socialization programs for kittens, and 8% for adult cats.


Diet

Feral cats are either
mesopredator A mesopredator is a predator that occupies a mid-ranking trophic level in a food web. There is no standard definition of a mesopredator, but mesopredators are usually medium-sized carnivorous or omnivorous animals, such as raccoons, foxes, or ...
s (mid-ranking predators) or
apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator or superpredator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the hig ...
s (top predators) in local ecosystems. They prey on a wide variety of both
vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...
s and
invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s, and typically prefer smaller animals with body weights under , particularly
mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
s, birds, and lizards. Their global prey spectrum encompasses over 1,000 species; the most commonly observed were the
house mouse The house mouse (''Mus musculus'') is a small mammal of the rodent family Muridae, characteristically having a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and almost hairless tail. It is one of the most abundant species of the genus '' Mus''. A ...
,
European rabbit The European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal and Andorra) and southwestern France. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Oryctolagus''. The European rab ...
,
black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...
,
house sparrow The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the Old World sparrow, sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pa ...
, and
common blackbird The common blackbird (''Turdus merula'') is a species of true thrush. It is also called the Eurasian blackbird (especially in North America, to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds), or simply the blackbird. It breeds in Europ ...
. In Australia, they prey on
introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...
like the European rabbit and house mouse, and on native rodents and
marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...
s, particularly the
common ringtail possum The common ringtail possum (''Pseudocheirus peregrinus'', Greek for "false hand" and Latin for "pilgrim" or "alien") is an Australian marsupial. It lives in a variety of habitats and eats a variety of leaves of both native and introduced plants ...
. In the United States some people advocate for feral cats as a means to control pigeons and invasive rodents like the house mouse and
brown rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat and Norwegian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest Muroidea, muroids, it is a brown or grey ...
, although these cosmopolitan species co-evolved with cats in human-disturbed environments and so have an advantage over native rodents in evading cat predation. Studies in California showed that 67% of the mice killed by cats were native species, and that areas near feral cat colonies actually have larger house mouse populations, but fewer birds and native rodents. Though cats usually prey on animals less than half their size, a feral cat in Australia was photographed killing an adult pademelon of around the cat's weight at . African feral cats have been observed directly pilfering
milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
from the
elephant seal Elephant seals or sea elephants are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus ''Mirounga''. Both species, the northern elephant seal (''M. angustirostris'') and the southern elephant seal (''M. leonina''), were hunted to the brink of ...
's teat.


Predators

Feral cats are prey of feral dogs,
dingo The dingo (either included in the species ''Canis familiaris'', or considered one of the following independent taxa: ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage ...
es,
coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...
s,
caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized Felidae, wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long ...
s and
birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...
.


Health


Life span and survival


Without human assistance

Adult feral cats without human assistance have been found in surprisingly good condition. In Florida, a study of feral cats admitted to a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program concluded that "euthanasia for debilitated cats for humane reasons is rarely necessary". A further study of over 100,000 feral and stray cats admitted to TNR programs in diverse locations of the U.S. resulted in the same 0.4% rate of euthanasia for debilitating conditions. The body condition of feral cats entering a TNR program in Florida was described as "generally lean but not emaciated". However, many feral cats had suffered from parasites such as
flea Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...
s and
ear mite Ear mites are mites that live in the ears of animals. The most commonly seen species in veterinary medicine is '' Otodectes cynotis'' (Gk. ''oto''=ear, ''dectes''=biter, ''cynotis''=of the dog). This species, despite its name, is also responsibl ...
s before entering TNR programs.


With human assistance

Feral cats in managed colonies can live long lives. A number of cats in managed colonies in the United Kingdom died of old age. A long-term study of a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program on a university campus in Central Florida found that, despite widespread concern about the welfare of free-roaming cats, 83% of the cats studied had been present for more than six years, with almost half first observed as adults of unknown age. The authors compared this result to a 1984 study that found the
mean A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...
life span for domesticated cats was 7.1 years.


Disease


Types

Feral cats, like all cats, are susceptible to diseases and infections including
rabies Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia ("fear of water") because its victims panic when offered liquids to drink. Early symptoms can include fever and abn ...
, bartonellosis,
toxoplasmosis Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by ''Toxoplasma gondii'', an apicomplexan. Infections with toxoplasmosis are associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric and behavioral conditions. Occasionally, people may have a few weeks or month ...
, feline panleukopenia virus, external and internal parasites,
feline immunodeficiency virus Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a lentivirus that affects cats worldwide and 2.5% to 4.4% of felines are infected. FIV was first isolated in 1986, by Niels C. Pedersen and Janet K. Yamamoto at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Med ...
(FIV), feline leukemia virus (FeLV), rickettsial diseases,
ringworm Dermatophytosis, also known as tinea and ringworm, is a mycosis, fungal infection of the skin (a dermatomycosis), that may affect skin, hair, and nails. Typically it results in a red, itchy, scaly, circular rash. Hair loss may occur in the a ...
, and feline
respiratory disease Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, ...
complex (a group of respiratory illnesses including feline herpesvirus type 1,
feline calicivirus Feline calicivirus (FCV) is a virus of the family ''Caliciviridae'' that causes disease in cats. It is one of the two important viral causes of respiratory infection in cats, the other being feline herpesvirus. FCV can be isolated from about 5 ...
, '' Chlamydophila felis'', and ''
Mycoplasma haemofelis ''Mycoplasma haemofelis'' is an epierythrocytic parasitic bacterium. It often appears in bloodsmears as small (0.6 μm) coccoid bodies, sometimes forming short chains of three to eight organisms. It is usually the causative agent of feline ...
)''. Feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus belong to the ''Retroviridae'' family, and both cause
immunosuppression Immunosuppression is a reduction of the activation or efficacy of the immune system. Some portions of the immune system itself have immunosuppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse react ...
in cats, which can increase their susceptibility to other infections. Research has shown that the prevalence of these viruses among feral cat populations is low and is similar to prevalence rates for owned cats in the United States. Researchers studying 553 feral cats in North
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
in the United States tested them for a number of infections that could be detrimental to feline or human health. The study found the most prevalent infection to be '' Bartonella henselae'', the cause of
cat-scratch disease Cat-scratch disease (CSD) is an infectious disease that most often results from a scratch or bite of a cat. Symptoms typically include a non-painful bump or blister at the site of injury and painful and swollen lymph nodes. People may feel tire ...
in humans, with 33.6% of the cats testing positive. Feline coronavirus was the next most common infection, found in 18.3% of the cats, although they noted that the antibody levels were low in most of the cats who tested positive, and concluded that the cats they tested did not appear to be a greater risk for shedding the virus than pet cats. Researchers studying 96 feral cats on
Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...
in Canada found that feline roundworm was the most common infection in cats in that colony, afflicting 34% of cats. This was followed by ''
Toxoplasma gondii ''Toxoplasma gondii'' () is a species of parasitic alveolate that causes toxoplasmosis. Found worldwide, ''T. gondii'' is capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals, but members of the cat family (felidae) are the only known d ...
'', which was detected in 29.8% of cats, although only one cat of the 78 for whom fecal samples were available was shedding ''T. gondii''
oocysts Apicomplexans, a group of intracellular parasites, have life cycle stages that allow them to survive the wide variety of environments they are exposed to during their complex life cycle. Each stage in the life cycle of an apicomplexan organism ...
. They did note that most fecal samples collected indicated the presence of one
intestinal parasite An intestinal parasite infection is a condition in which a parasite infects the gastro-intestinal tract of humans and other animals. Such parasites can live anywhere in the body, but most prefer the intestinal wall. Routes of exposure and inf ...
, with some samples indicating the presence of multiple parasites.


Transmission to humans

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has warned about the rabies risk associated with feral cats. With 16% of people infected with rabies from exposure to rabid cats, cats have been the primary animals responsible for transmission of the virus to humans in the United States since the efforts to control rabies in dogs in the 1970s. In 2010, there were 303 rabid cats reported within the United States. Although some colony management programs involve administering
rabies vaccine The rabies vaccine is a vaccine used to prevent rabies. There are several rabies vaccines available that are both safe and effective. Vaccinations must be administered prior to rabies virus exposure or within the Latent period (epidemiology), l ...
s, the need to revaccinate every few years makes this challenging to maintain. Furthermore, lack of documentation can mean that contact with vaccinated feral cats may still require post-exposure treatment. The study of feral cats on Prince Edward Island warned of "considerable
zoonotic A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, fungi, or prion) that can jump from a non-human vertebrate to a human. When h ...
risk" for transmission of intestinal parasites. Although the authors noted that their study did not provide evidence for great risk associated with ''T. gondii'' in cats, they advised that the risk should still be considered, as the infection in humans can cause significant health problems, and cats who are not otherwise transmitting the infection can begin shedding the parasite in times of stress.


Control and management

Feral cats are controlled or managed by various agencies to manage disease, for the protection of native wildlife and to protect their welfare. Control of feral cats can be managed through trapping and euthanasia or other forms of lethal control, or, some claim, through trap-neuter-return (TNR). Scientific research has not found TNR to be an effective means of controlling the feral cat population. Literature reviews have found that, in the instances where studies documented TNR colonies that declined in population, those declines were being driven primarily by substantial percentages of colony cats being permanently removed from colonies by some combination of re-homing and euthanasia on an ongoing basis. TNR colonies often increase in population because cats breed quickly and the trapping and sterilization rates are frequently too low to stop this population growth, because food is usually being provided to the cats, and because public awareness of a TNR colony tends to encourage people in the surrounding community to dump their own unwanted pet cats there. The growing popularity of TNR, even near areas of particular ecological sensitivity, has been attributed in part to the failure of scientists to communicate the environmental harm caused by feral cats to the public, and their unwillingness to engage with TNR advocates. Trap-neuter-return involves trapping feral cats, vaccinating, spaying or neutering them, and then returning them to the place where there were originally trapped. TNR programs are prevalent in several countries, including England, Italy, Canada, and the United States, and are supported by many local and state governments. Proponents of TNR argue that it is effective in stopping reproduction and reducing the population over time. TNR results in fewer complaints, as nuisance behaviors diminish following neutering, and the quality of life of the cats is improved. The practice is reported to save money and garner more public support and better morale than efforts that involve killing cats. TNR is popular, but there's little evidence that TNR by itself can control the growing population of free roaming cats. The International Companion Animal Management Coalition advocates for TNR as a humane method of controlling feral cat populations. In the U.S., the practice is endorsed by the
Humane Society of the United States Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Humane Society International (HSI), is a global nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scop ...
. and the National Animal Control Association, TNR is opposed by the Australian Veterinary Association, the
National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...
, the
National Wildlife Federation The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization in the United States, with over six million members and supporters, and 51 state and territorial affiliated organizations (i ...
, the
Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...
, the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians, the Wildlife Society, the
American Bird Conservancy American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is a non-profit organization, non-profit membership organization with the mission of conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. ABC is the second BirdLife International partner in the United ...
, and
PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal right ...
. Some U.S. military bases have TNR programs, but the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
prohibits such programs on Navy land. In the US, the
American Veterinary Medical Association The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is an American not-for-profit association founded in 1863 that represents more than 105,000 veterinarians. The AVMA provides information resources, continuing education opportunities, publicat ...
(AVMA), in 2016, adopted a resolution that "encourages collaborative efforts to identify humane and effective alternatives to the destruction of healthy cats for animal control purposes, while minimizing their negative impact on native wildlife and public health." The AVMA voiced support for "properly managed eral catcolonies" outside "wildlife-sensitive ecosystems" but stated that " e goal of colony management should be continual reduction and eventual elimination of the colony through attrition." The AVMA stated that "free-roaming abandoned and feral cats that are not in properly managed colonies should be removed from their environment and treated in the same manner as other abandoned and stray animals in accordance with local and state ordinances" and that " r colonies not achieving attrition and posing active threats to the area in which they are residing, the AVMA does not oppose the consideration of euthanasia when conducted by qualified personnel, using appropriate humane methods as described in the AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals.". According to estimates from the Humane Society of the United States, the population of feral cats in the US ranges from 50 to 70 million. In contrast, the number of pet cats in the US stands at approximately 76 million. The effectiveness of both trap-and-euthanise and TNR programmes is largely dependent upon controlling immigration of cats into cleared or controlled areas; where immigration of new cats is controlled, both techniques can be effective. However where immigration is not controlled, culling is more effective. Comparisons of different techniques have also found that trap-and-euthanise programmes are half the cost of TNR ones. An analysis of both techniques in Hawaii suggested they are less effective when new cats were introduced by the abandonment of pets. The usefulness of TNR is disputed by some scientists and conservation specialists, who argue that TNR is only concerned with cat welfare and ignores the ongoing damage caused by feeding outdoor populations of neutered cats, including the depredation of wildlife, transmission of diseases, and the accumulation of cat faeces in the environment. Conservation scientists also question the effectiveness of TNR at controlling numbers of feral cats. Some studies that have supported TNR have also been criticised for using anecdotal data to evaluate their effectiveness. In order for TNR to reduce the cat population, sterilisation rates of at least 75% must be maintained at all times, particularly because TNR practitioners providing cats with food makes the problem worse by increasing the survival rate of feral kittens. Also, this food source causes other cats to be drawn into the colony from outside. Members of the public often begin dumping unwanted pet cats at TNR sites, increasing the rate of recruitment. And neutered cats are less territorial, allowing for higher populations. TNR programs are sometimes able to attain local reductions in the numbers of cats at specific colony locations, but it has never been demonstrated to meaningfully impact cat populations over large areas or regions, because the effort necessary to maintain sufficient sterilisation rates means that systemic TNR will never be a credible option. For example, to reduce a typical Australian city's population of 700,000 feral cats through TNR would require sterilising at least 500,000 of them initially, and then continuing to sterilise more than 75% of the kittens that the other 200,000 would continue to produce each year indefinitely, along with all the new recruits from other cat populations drawn by the food supply. TNR is backed by well-funded advocacy organizations: in 2010, Alley Cat Allies spent
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
3 million advocating to legalise TNR throughout the United States, while the Best Friends Animal Society spent $11 million on a "Focus on Felines" initiative that included TNR advocacy. Promoters of TNR are often funded by big businesses with a commercial interest in selling cat food, such as pet food mills and the pet products retailer
PetSmart PetSmart Inc. is a privately held American chain of pet Big-box store, superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors ...
. While TNR is a popular approach to resolving the over population problem, it is not a ubiquitously accepted method. Another perspective emphasizes the poor outdoor living conditions of feral cats, and advocates for rehoming, adoption, or euthanasia as a more ethical response. This perspective centers the pressure feral cats place on the ecosystem, which is alternative to the popular position that centers the value of each cat's life.


TNR and wildlife

De-sexing cats, as in TNR programs, does nothing to prevent them from continuing to destroy wildlife. In Mandurah, Western Australia, a single, neutered, semi-feral cat raided a protected fairy tern colony on at least six nights in November 2018. It killed at least six breeding adult fairy terns; directly or indirectly killed at least 40 nestlings, and caused enough stress on the fairy tern colony that all 111 nests were abandoned; resulting in a complete breeding failure for the entire colony of threatened seabirds. The predation was documented by wildlife cameras, as well as by the presence of cat tracks, cat scat, decapitated fairy terns, and injured and missing fairy tern nestlings. Though the colony was surrounded by ultrasound generators intended to deter cats, the fairy tern colony might have been an irresistible target, and this particular cat was white and had a blue eye, traits commonly associated with deafness.


Management in sensitive environments

In sensitive environments, such as delicate ecosystems that have been degraded by feral cats, population management can be quite difficult. On isolated Pacific islands, trapping and removing the feral population too quickly can have adverse effects including booms in rodent and small reptile populations previously checked by the feral cat population. This new dynamic may prove to be more harmful, with further upstream effects on the ecosystem that were not predicted before removal of the feral cat population. With such a sensitive system to account for, solutions for population control will likely differ from case to case, and especially in different ecosystems where feral cats are to be controlled.


Effects on wildlife

In the United States, free-ranging cats kill one to four billion birds and six to 22 billion mammals annually. In Australia, domestic cats were introduced in the 1800s to settlements that had developed near
gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...
sites and farms as a pest control strategy to decimate rabbits, mice, and rats. Feral cats kill on average one million reptiles each day. Feral cats in Australia kill over 1.5 billion native mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs, and 1.1 billion invertebrates each year. Predation by cats is a recognised threat to over 200 nationally threatened species, and 37 listed migratory species. They have contributed to the extinction of more than 20 Australian mammal species, including the pig-footed bandicoots, lesser bilby and broad-faced potoroo.


Impact on prey species

Even well-fed domestic cats may hunt and kill, mainly catching small mammals such as rodents and lagamorphs, but also birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. Hunting by domestic cats contributes to the decline in the numbers of birds in urban areas. Feral cats can threaten native species with extinction, particularly on island ecosystems where native animals did not evolve alongside predators, especially ambush predators like cats. Controlling or eliminating the populations of the non-native cats can produce a rapid recovery in native animals. Native species such as the New Zealand
kākāpō The kākāpō (; : ; ''Strigops habroptilus''), sometimes known as the owl parrot or owl-faced parrot, is a species of large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the superfamily Strigopoidea. It is endemic to New Zealand. Kākāpō can be u ...
and the Australian bettong tend to be more ecologically vulnerable when faced with predation by cats due to lack of an evolutionary response to predation. Feral cats have had a major impact on these native species and have played a leading role in the endangerment and extinction of many species. In Hawaii's remote, mountainous areas, they destroy the nests of seabirds including Newell's shearwater (''Puffinus newelli'') and the Hawaiian petrel (''Pterodroma sandwichensis''), amongst many other ground-nesting birds. In agricultural settings, cats can be effective at keeping mouse and rat populations low, but only if rodent harborage locations (such as tall grass) are kept under control. While cats are effective at preventing rodent population explosions, they are not effective for eliminating pre-existing severe infestations. Rat terriers and native predators such as raptors and snakes are far better at eliminating mice and rats compared to the domestic cat. In systems where wildlife is threatened by both predation by rats and cats, there are concerns that controlling cats could increase predation by rats, due to rat populations increasing. For example, in Christmas Island, it was shown that decreasing cat populations would improve the growth rate of a threatened bird, as long as rats did not increase by more than 77 rats per cat removed. However, cats are actually ineffective predators of rats and prefer going after smaller prey, such as mice and small native animals.


Hybridisation with wildcats

Feral cats have interbred with
wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...
s to various extents throughout the world, the first reported case occurring more than 200 years ago. The significance of hybridisation is disputed. Modern genetic analysis revealed that the
African wildcat The African wildcat (''Felis lybica'') is a small wildcat species with sandy grey fur, pale vertical stripes on the sides and around the face. It is native to Africa, West and Central Asia, and is distributed to Rajasthan in India and Xinjiang ...
is the ancestor of the domestic cat, and it is a subspecies of the African wildcat. Pure
Scottish wildcat The Scottish wildcat is a European wildcat (''Felis silvestris silvestris'') population in Scotland. It was once widely distributed across Great Britain, but the population has declined drastically since the turn of the 20th century due to habi ...
s are unlikely to exist, but the current wildcat population is distinct enough from domestic cats to be worth protecting. High levels of hybridisation have led to difficulties in distinguishing pure wildcats from feral and domestic cats, which can complicate conservation efforts. Trap-neuter-return programs have been established to prevent hybridisation. Notable gene
introgression Introgression, also known as introgressive hybridization, in genetics is the transfer of genetic material from one species into the gene pool of another by the repeated backcrossing of an interspecific hybrid with one of its parent species. Introg ...
into
European wildcat The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Great Britain, Turkey and the Caucasus. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides and has a bushy tail with a bl ...
populations exists also in Italy, Hungary, Spain and Portugal.


See also

*


References


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Feral Cat Cats Cat types Introduced mammals of Australia Cat, Feral Urban wildlife