You may have seen them in your backyard, or around your apartment building. Perhaps you even feed them, or provide shelter for them during inclement weather. They are the feral and stray cats that live in our community and they are the San Francisco SPCA's core constituency.
In November 2005, we appeared before the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare to oppose a request for an injunction against The SF/SPCA's Feral Cat Assistance Program sought by one of the commissioners. The request for the injunction was quickly denied by the other commissioners as being invalid, although a discussion about the program did take place.
The complaint against The SF/SPCA turns on a charge that the Society "abandons" feral cats once they have passed through the Feral Fix Program. This is a charge that we strongly refute. The goal of The SF/SPCA Feral Cat Assistance Program is to save feral cats and to control and reduce their numbers, and we are doing everything we can to attain this goal. The real "abandonment" of these cats comes every time one is dumped by an irresponsible owner. When these deserted felines have also not been spayed or neutered, their situation is even direr.
A feral cat is an unsocialized feline that was born outside and has never lived with humans, or it's a house pet that has strayed or been abandoned, and over time has reverted to a wild state. Feral cats usually can't be tamed, and therefore can't be adopted, and are most content living outside. There are thought to be about 60 million stray or feral cats in North America. In many cities, they proliferate unabated, with no safety net of care. But in San Francisco, The SF/SPCA Feral Cat Assistance Program works with caregivers to control the feral cat population, provide medical care and keep the cats adequately fed.
Trap/Neuter/Return (TNR) is the most effective, humane and non-lethal strategy for controlling and reducing feral cat populations ... |
The SF/SPCA Spay/Neuter Clinic offers free spay/neuter surgery and vaccinations for San Francisco's feral cats and kittens. Since our Feral Fix Program was founded in 1993, The SF/SPCA has altered well over 15,000 feral cats. It has been estimated that one unsterilized female cat and her offspring could theoretically produce 420,000 progeny over a seven year period. If we agree that approximately half of the 15,000 feral cats altered at The SF/SPCA over a 12 year period were female, then it can be inferred that several millions of feline births have been prevented during this time.
The Feral Cat Assistance Program at The SF/SPCA, and in partnership with San Francisco Animal Care & Control, is the only organized program in San Francisco dealing with the issue of feral cats. It's a hugely expensive program that generates no immediate monetary return on its investment. Unlike The SF/SPCA, several Humane Societies in counties surrounding San Francisco have been forced, by budgetary pressures, to end their Feral Cat programs. Nor have we thrown up our hands in despair at the seeming intractability of the problem; we continue to do all we can for these cats. We acknowledge that there are holes in the system, but the feral cats are taken care of as long as we know where they are.
Despite ongoing criticism, The SF/SPCA continues to endorse Trap/Neuter/Return (TNR) as the most effective, humane and non-lethal strategy for controlling and reducing feral cat populations. Entire colonies are humanely trapped and brought to The SF/SPCA by volunteers and good Samaritans in the community for altering and vaccinations. Young kittens and tame strays are put up for adoption. Very sick or badly injured cats are humanely euthanized; healthy, adult feral cats have their left ear tipped for identification purposes, and are returned to their colonies under the supervision of volunteer caregivers.
It is these caregivers who are the unsung heroes of the Feral Cat Assistance Program. Many of them have spent years providing sustainable care for colonies of feral cats, feeding them, monitoring them, relocating them if necessary, trapping any newcomers, and generally seeing the dwindling, through normal attrition, of a once large colony to a few elderly felines. Theirs is often a lifetime job, and we take our collective hat off to them. However, to come up with a fail-safe, after-care plan for cats that have been through the Feral Fix Program will require increased funding and work.
Since the inception of Feral Fix in 1993, the intake rate of feral cats has dropped by 16%, and adoption has increased by 16%. It is clear that the way to keep moving ahead is not to shut down the Feral Cat Assistance Program but to enlarge it, and to engage the community in supporting it. To close down the Program, with no feasible plan for anything to replace it, or any credible solution to the problem of feral cats other than their euthanization, is not an answer. Therefore, The SF/SPCA will continue to do everything it can to care for its core constituency.
