Sheltering an Animal’s Perspective

by Gregory M. Simpson

Remember the tale about the man downstream who keeps rescuing folks one by one from the swift flowing river?  After plucking out dozens of floundering victims, he decides that he needs to go upstream to find out why so many are falling in.  It occurs to me that it’s kind of like that with cats.
When Bryan Kortis, Director of Neighborhood Cats in New York City, mentioned at a conference on feral cats that about 80% of the kittens born each year are produced by feral and stray cats, it reminded me of the man pulling people from the river.  Only this time, cats are "falling in upstream" with resulting kittens being found "downstream."
My wife and I have adopted kittens found in much the same way; a ten day old kitten found with a puncture wound in its neck, kittens of a feral mother left under our doorstep, and a kitten found next to a cable TV technician’s truck.  While volunteering with one rescue group, we found kittens literally floating down the Connecticut River in a plastic garbage bag! 
We love the kittens we’ve adopted, but recognize that there are also millions of adult cats needing good homes.  We’ve adopted our share of those, too, like the stray gray cat I was feeding one winter night that wrapped his two front legs around my leg and wouldn’t let go, or the orange male stray that was found starving due to being entwined in a flea collar. 
If cat overpopulation is going to be successfully resolved, it will have to be through addressing the source – the cats left "upstream" that produce the kittens found "downstream."  It will take more than celebrities like Bob Barker reminding folks to "have your pets spayed or neutered."  When one thinks about it, responsible people already act responsibly and spay or neuter.  It is the irresponsible ones that abandon cats, often not spayed or neutered, leaving them to fend for themselves.  These cats reproduce, of course.  University of Washington mathematicians calculate that a feral cat and her offspring could produce between 100 and 400 cats by the end of seven years.
Thinking preventively, government subsidies for free or low cost spay/neuter programs are vital.  They are already in place in some parts of the country.  Connecticut has the distinction of being the first and perhaps only state, to provide $40,000 to animal welfare groups for the past two years through its Department of Agriculture to sterilize feral cats.  Legislation passed in 2007 replaces this $40,000 grant program in 2008 and provides up to 20% of the Animal Population Control Program’s income for sterilization of feral cats and cats belonging to low income residents.  That should be just the beginning of such funding as studies show that the main reason that people do not spay or neuter their companion animals is lack of access to low cost sterilization.
The Animal Population Control Program has provided vaccinations and sterilization benefits to more than 19,000 dogs and cats since 2001 and over 50,000 companion animals since the program began in 1995.  Cities should also get involved.   New Britain already allocates funds for sterilization of feral cats through its support of the Animal Alliance Welfare League.   
National animal organizations such as Spay/USA (1-800-248-SPAY) and Friends of Animals (1-800-321-PETS) offer low cost spay/neuter programs.  Other national organizations that collect millions of charitable dollars should do likewise.  In Connecticut, Team’s (Tait’s Every Animal Matters) Mobile Feline Unit has spayed or neutered 100,000 cats since 1997.  TEAM can be reached at 1-888-FOR-TEAM. 
If you care about cats, check to see if your donations go to organizations that promote, spay/neuter programs.  With 80% of the kittens born each year produced by feral and stray cats, there is no more important issue than sterilization.  In addition, encourage your local officials to enforce animal cruelty and abandonment laws. 
According to a 2002 "Guide to Cat Law" published by the Humane Society  (HSUS), there are more than 60 million companion cats, fewer than half of whom are kept safely confined.  HSUS points out that tens of millions more cats roam free, having been abandoned by their original owners or born in the wild.  A 2001 HSUS study found that two out of three veterinarians recommend keeping cats indoors, to avoid dangers ranging from vehicles to disease. 
There needs to be sterilization of all cats adopted from public/private shelters and rescue groups, as well as sterilization of all free-roaming cats.  Laws and policies should also be enacted that are consistent with the humane management of feral cats, which means support of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs.