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EASEL News: July 2020

Reducing Stray Cats: One Kitty at a Time

their colony are ear-tipped programs seek to reduce the feral cat
for identification and colony population overtime, by reducing
vaccinated for their safety. the number of kittens born to female cats
Colony feeders are given in the colony. Untreated, unmanaged
instructions for future safe feral cat colonies are also at greater risk
care of the cats. of contracting and spreading diseases
both among its members, to other indoor/
What Are Feral Cat outdoor cats in their territory as well as
Colonies? other animals and humans.
d Female cats can have up to 3 litters
Cats, despite the a year, averaging 4 kittens per litter. She
stereotype, are not solitary can also become pregnant as early as 4
creatures. Much like lions months old. This means that in the span of
live in prides, cats in the just seven years, an unsprayed female and
wild often live in colonies. her offspring can result in over 420,000
These colonies are often new cats (data from the Suncoast Humane
comprised of stray cats and, Society).
occasionally, cats who were previously in
One of the questions EASEL’s cat What Has EASEL Done to
volunteers often get asked by potential homes but were either lost or abandoned Reduce Local Cat Colonies?
adopters is just where do all the cats we and found their way into a colony.
have up for adoption come from? There Why Are Feral Cat Colonies
are a wide variety of answers to this Bad? Some of EASEL’s volunteers are part of
question, largely because our cats come to the TNR program. They either coordinate
us from so many different situations. Some d or assist local residents in setting up
of the most frequent are: Cats, despite the stereotype, are humane traps for feral cats and bring the
• Owner surrenders not solitary creatures. Much like lions animals into the shelter, where they are
• Strays brought in by concerned citizens live in prides, cats in the wild often live evaluated either by trained volunteers or
• Transfers from other shelters in colonies. These colonies are often our veterinary partners to see if they have
• Cats rescued from hoarding situations comprised of stray cats and, occasionally, already been fixed. If they haven’t, they are
cats who were previously in homes but sterilized by a veterinary partner.
were either lost or abandoned and found Since 2012, when EASEL moved to
However, one of our most common stories
for many of our cats and kittens is that their way into a colony. its current location, our TNR efforts have
they came to the EASEL Cat Room through Feral cat colonies face a great deal of reduced population growth in over 300
another EASEL program – our TNR efforts. challenges. Not only are the colony cats cat colonies in Mercer County, sterilizing
regularly exposed to harsh and inclement approximately 3,750 cats.
What is TNR? weather (keep in mind, these cats live You may be wondering if there is a
outdoors year-round – even in the harsh way to know if a feral or stray cat in your
NJ winters), they face danger from local neighborhood has already “graduated”
TNR stands for Trap-Neuter-Return.
TNR programs are common place at many predators as well as humans. from a TNR program. One way to possibly
larger shelters. What TNR aims to do is Sadly, feral cat colonies can be targets tell if a feral/stray cat has already been
reduce feral cat colony populations by for inhumane traps and poisonings by sterilized is if they have been “ear-tipped.”
sterilizing the colony members, thereby humans seeking to reduce cat populations. This is a procedure some vets perform
reducing new kitten births and, over Large cat colonies can be detrimental to on TNR cats which involves snipping the
time, reducing the overall population of the local wildlife by hunting birds and Continued on page 7
the feral colony. Adult cats returned to other small prey animals – disrupting
the natural food chain in the area. TNR

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