This is another one of those stories that intersects ~news, ~health, ~enviro... The typhus-bearing flea problem mentioned was news to me, though murine typhus is just as much of an issue with any...
This is another one of those stories that intersects ~news, ~health, ~enviro...
The typhus-bearing flea problem mentioned was news to me, though murine typhus is just as much of an issue with any kind of rodent, including squirrels. However, people don't usually attempt to make contact with, or pets of, rodents as they might with feral cats.
Aside from the impacts of feral cats on native wildlife, there is some data on effectiveness of trap-neuter-release for long-term population control versus immediate euthanasia. The Disneyland case, and many confined small urban cat colonies, would seem to be good candidates.
It's probably most ethical to euthanize urban feral cats too seriously ill or injured to survive without extended human care and domestication, and refrain from feeding feral cats without a carefully considered TNR program.
But as the sub-linked Nature article indicates, not all feral cats are equally destructive. In North America, urban ferals aren't decimating wild songbirds and forest mammals; it's debatable how much wildlife population decline is attributable to cats versus habitat loss and pollution.
This is another one of those stories that intersects ~news, ~health, ~enviro...
The typhus-bearing flea problem mentioned was news to me, though murine typhus is just as much of an issue with any kind of rodent, including squirrels. However, people don't usually attempt to make contact with, or pets of, rodents as they might with feral cats.
Aside from the impacts of feral cats on native wildlife, there is some data on effectiveness of trap-neuter-release for long-term population control versus immediate euthanasia. The Disneyland case, and many confined small urban cat colonies, would seem to be good candidates.
It's probably most ethical to euthanize urban feral cats too seriously ill or injured to survive without extended human care and domestication, and refrain from feeding feral cats without a carefully considered TNR program.
But as the sub-linked Nature article indicates, not all feral cats are equally destructive. In North America, urban ferals aren't decimating wild songbirds and forest mammals; it's debatable how much wildlife population decline is attributable to cats versus habitat loss and pollution.