Feral Cats

The popularity of cats as companion animals comes as no surprise to cat lovers.

On the other hand, there are many who view cats in a less positive light.

Cats' natural hunting instincts pose a threat to bird and wildlife species and feral cats in particular have few supporters. The ability of stray or unwanted cats to survive as feral cats has given all cats a major image problem.

Cats are collectively blamed for the activities of non-desexed and unwanted cats who are surviving according to their instincts and threatening wildlife in the process. But like it or not, the buck stops with cat owners.

Those of us who enjoy the company of cats have a responsibility to manage our cats well and educate others to do the same.

Responsibly managed cats do not threaten the environment - they enjoy well-equipped cat enclosures when outside during the day and are kept inside at night. They are de-sexed and do not contribute to heart-wrenching statistics on the thousands of unwanted cats that are euthanased annually.

A humane and successful resolution to the problem of feral cats would help protect the environment and improve the image problem which affects even responsibly owned cats.

A resolution is also necessary for those unwanted, homeless wild kittens and cats suffering from hunger, exposure and disease.

The onus is on domestic cat owners to do three simple things - de-sex your cat, keep it safely enclosed and spread this message to other cat owners.