"Sweeping claims about the risk these cats pose to native species—presumably all of them—are simply not supported by the evidence presented."

Vox Felina Blog - a repository of research notes, news stories, correspondences, and associated commentary focused on a range of issues related to “the plight” of unowned, free-roaming cats in general, and trap-neuter-return (TNR) in particular. 

 

Article Highlights

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UNNATURAL SELECTION

"In a study recently published in Biological Conservation, Daniel Herrera and his co-authors report that “predation by cats is greatest where supplemental food is most abundant” and that native species are at greatest risk in areas closer to forest edges. As a result, they recommend “the implementation of cat exclusionary buffer zones around urban forests.”

A careful look at the authors’ analysis, though, raises serious doubts about their sweeping conclusions..."

TNR cats and feeding locations

"Herrera et al. [1] seem to suggest that community cats are even more of a problem than other outdoor cats: “The total number of cat predation events at a site was best predicted by a cat’s prior participation in a TNR program… and local feeding location density.” Perhaps I’m missing something, but it seems like they’re overlooking an obvious point: there are generally more TNR cats in areas with more cats overall—and those parts of a community tend to be in densely populated urban areas, further from natural areas.

In addition, the authors note: “our analyses reveal that predation by cats is greatest where supplemental food is most abundant,” and therefore recommend that “management policies explicitly consider the spatial location of cat-feeding sites” [1]. Again, I might be missing something, but if predation “is greatest where supplemental food is most abundant,” that’s probably because that’s where the cats are..."

 

 

Native and non-native species

"...The fact that these species are common would seem to be an important point, but the authors seem more interested in focusing on their “nativeness.” (The native/non-native classification seems more useful for scaremongering and demonstrating tribal allegiance than for any legitimate conservation work, but that’s another conversation.)..."

 

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About Vox Felina

Vox Felina is a repository of research notes, news stories, correspondences, and associated commentary focused on a range of issues related to “the plight” of unowned, free-roaming cats in general, and trap-neuter-return (TNR) in particular. The blog format offers two significant benefits for such a project: (1) by limiting the scope of each post, I’m able to zoom in on the details—critical for understanding deeply the complexities of the topic, and (2) the hypertext and tags permit linking and cross-referencing impossible in the print domain.

The primary impetus behind Vox Felina, launched in April 2010, was the abundance of flawed science promoted by many TNR opponents, undermining any honest debate of the “feral cat” issue. Nearly seven years later, the flaws have become more glaring, the promotion unapologetically post-factual (and self-serving). The need for a rigorous, thoughtful response is, therefore, greater than ever.

There are legitimate issues to be debated regarding the efficacy, environmental impact, and morality of TNR. But attempts at an honest, productive debate are hampered—if not derailed entirely—by the dubious claims so often put forward by TNR opponents. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I’m very interested in asking better questions—the sort of questions that might stimulate a more conscientious debate of this important issue. And in any event, I feel compelled to speak out on behalf of the cats.

Peter J. Wolf