Critical Assessment of Claims Regarding Management of Feral Cats by Trap–Neuter–Return
These authors dispute the claims made by Trap-Neuter-Return advocates on the effectiveness of this approach, and urge conservation scientists to become involved by conducting additional research on the effects of feral cats on wildlife and by communicating sound scientific information about this problem to policy makers.
Next time you reach for your cat’s favorite white fish in sauce, consider this: 5.4 million tons of wild caught forage fish are consumed by cats. This is compared to the 17.4 million tons fed to fish in aquaculture and 16.3 million tons fed to domestic livestock – both destined for human consumption. The point is, a significant amount of wild caught fish that is not consumed directly by humans is going to cats. The fisheries are a limited and decreasing biological resource, and we agree with these authors, that serious consideration needs to be paid to the impact of an expanding population of cats on this resource. While we don’t recommend you get rid of your cat, we do urge neutering all cats to curb the problem of overpopulation. One question that remains is, given that huge tonnage of fish are fed to livestock, what is the thoughtful choice at the pet food aisle?
Also, see
Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: cat-food-and-oceanic-fisheries
And
Cat Got Your Fish? Paul Greenberg, NYT: 22greenberg.html?_r=1