A recent article discussed the plight of feral cats in Wake County. Wake County's human population is approaching 1 million. By one method of estimating that means there may be as many as 166,000 stray, abandoned and feral cats in our county. The cats are often referred to as community cats or free roaming cats. The county does nothing to help stabilize or reduce the population of these cats. Its policy instead is to react to a citizen complaint. A complaint may result in Animal Control trapping and removing cats in an area.
When cats are removed from the area, new cats move in, and survivors breed to capacity. This begins the endless cruel cycle of catching and killing.
Citizens and rescue groups are stepping in to fill this void. They are doing this with a proactive program called Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). TNR'd cats are humanely trapped, sterilized, vaccinated against rabies, ear-tipped as a means of identification and returned to the property where they were trapped. No more kittens are born, and over time the cat population stabilizes and decreases. This is a goal that everyone can share.
