Positive Change in Population Control

I am sure all of you have had that experience of wandering the neighborhood, or driving down the street, and you spot a cat. It was most likely alone, minding its own business, looking for its next meal, or just simply strolling through the town it calls its home. Have you imagined that cat yet? Now, let me ask you a question about your experience: did you notice if its ear was tipped? 

If you're someone who's never looked for a cat with a tipped ear, you're not alone! It's not something most people think about when they first see a cat, but the reason for that is because people don't know the meaning behind it. I myself never looked for that noticeable mark until the summer of 2018. This was when I started volunteering for CPAW NJ. CPAW NJ is a nonprofit organization based in Montclair. The organization's sole purpose is Trap Neuter Vaccinate and Release, or TNVR (more about this later), in the cat communities in our area. 

CPAW NJ logo from http://cpawnj.org/

Karen Shinevar, the president of this charity, gave me the opportunity to help socialize a couple kittens and adult cats that they had rescued from the street. In this adventure, I was able to interact with cats who changed my opinion of feral cats and their impact on our community. Karen was honest to me in revealing that their plan was no longer to try to get cats adopted, but rather facilitate TNVR anywhere they could spread it. 

Jack and Turner photographed by me :)
both have been luckily adopted 

 All the cats I met while working this program were absolutely delightful. I worked with Jack and Turner, two siblings who both sustained injuries to their eyes pictured above, and with Oreo, he was abused when he was younger due to him being the only black kitten to come out of his mom's litter. Since then, Oreo has been rescued by Karen and is still looking for a home (if you are please send an email here)! I'm sure all of you want to keep hearing about my adventures with the cats I worked with, but I want to highlight the true purrrpose of CPAW NJ. After all, it wasn't the experiences with the kittens that I value most from CPAW. 

Picture of Oreo photographed by Alina (another volunteer)

Overpopulation can easily occur in cat communities due to the sexual behavior of female cats.  Cats reach sexual maturity at around 4 months old, so they have kittens much faster than a lot of animals. Cats, like rabbits, have heat cycles which occur every 12-22 days causing a release of hormones and a change in behavior that attracts new mates. In their period of heat, which can last from 2 days to 2 weeks, many male cats will mate with the female causing a large mix of genes. Once the cat gives birth, they can be fertilized again in as little as 2 days. This means that the cat population can get out of hand quickly. This cycle can also have effects on the mother because she can over exert herself when having litters so often. Cats can give birth to new litters 5 and a half times a year. This quick birth rate is all supposed to give cats a higher chance to pass on their genes, thus having high fitness. Currently, there are 500,000 cats on the streets of NYC, imagine in the entire US! Of course, governments have taken measures to try to regulate this cat population.

Cat population statistics brought to us by the CPAW NJ Facebook page

Traditionally, it is common for governments to utilize the option of trap and kill to handle their overpopulation of community cats. Trap and kill is when the government orders their animal control officers to lower the population of cats through the mass murdering of the population. However, this has shown to be ineffective due to the scientific phenomenon known as the vacuum effect. The vacuum effect is a description of what happens when a large piece of a population is removed: in some time, the population will bounce back because the resources in the community are now available. Immigration occurs as more animals try to take advantage of open shelters and plentiful food. Some people may be then drawn to the idea of adoption for these cats, however, this solution is also problematic. 

Yes, we always love to see a rescue mission that involves finding an animal a home. But sometimes, that is not always possible. There are strays on the street who would do much better in a home, these cats are usually banged up and ill prepared for defending themselves on the streets. Feral cats, however, have been raised in the wild. They are usually unfit for adoption because they have not been socialized. Cats need proper socialization with humans as kittens in order to become pets. If a cat is not properly socialized at the beginning of its life, it is likely that cat can never be a house pet. Without socialization, a feral cat will become stressed around humans and display aggressive behavior like hissing, spitting, and running away. Cats like Jack and Turner were lucky to be socialized as kittens because they can be adopted. However, if a cat shows any sign of being feral, they are usually euthanized in shelters for being wild. Statistics show that over 70% of cats are euthanized in shelters. 

This image shows a pyramid of actions to best reduce the cat population
https://www.communitycatspodcast.com/introducing-the-community-cat-pyramid/

This is why Karen started to spread the message of TNVR. This practice provides a humane way to handle outdoor cats while also fixing the communities' overpopulation issue. Instead of killing the cats caught by animal control officers, the goal is for cats to be neutered/spayed, vaccinated, allowed to heal, and then released back to where they were found. There are many benefits of TNVR for the cats's health and human life. For one, studies have shown that TNVR instead of trap and kill improves morale and happiness in animal control employees. The amount of euthanasias in shelters decreases significantly after a TNVR practice goes into effect. Not only that, but community cats play an important role in our environment's ecosystem. They fill in a specific niche that we should all be grateful for: small animal control. They hunt rats and mice so that the rodents cannot enter our houses. If not for community cats, our town could end up like Chicago did when it had a 3 month wait list for community cats due to a lack of rodent control. In that same matter, TNVR also prevents overconsumption of small birds and other wildlife by keeping a limited number of predators. TNVR also promotes cheap spay and neutering for pet owners. This means that humans can have easily accessible surgery that benefits the lives of their pets. In Montclair, CPAW NJ runs a monthly spay/neuter van in their campaign called Beat the Heat.

 As for the cats, the vaccinations allow the cats to become resistant to rabies, which also benefits us. The trap, neuter, and release practice allows for behavioral changes like reduced territorial fighting. The cats live a safer life with less injuries and resistance to diseases that would normally spread quickly in communities. When the cars are sterilized, they usually stop their sexual behavior. This prevents vocalized mating, a common behavior that many people are irritated by. In addition, cats can no longer have kittens in the cold outdoors where most of them usually die. To ensure they don't mistakenly attempt a second sterilization on the same cat, TNVR organizations tip one ear of the cats who have already been neutered. This is why it is important to look for that tip! Not only does TNVR result in a cheaper and practical solution to overpopulation, it also has countless studies that support that TNVR is beneficial for all parties. 

community cat inside a trap about to be checked up. The cover allows
for the cat to calm down. Photo from the CPAWNJ facebook.

With all these benefits for TNVR, it's crazy that it hasn't been implemented widely. Sadly, the true issue that prevents TNVR from spreading is the lack of knowledge. Many officials in government often say that spay/neutering will not solve the problem. This is why CPAW NJ tries to spread this awareness in communities. It solves the long term problem of overpopulation while giving cats the best chance of surviving in the outdoors. TNVR organizations also face additional challenges. Traps require food for the cat to eat as bait. Without it, no cat would enter the trap and no neutering would happen. Karen told me recently that many towns will tell her they believe in TNVR, but will not legalize feeding feral cats. Notably, another issue is that many governments mandate TNR registration. People who run TNVR efforts are forced to share their personal information. The government also considers the cats that are recovering in the operator's care as the operator's personal property. This in turn makes them violate maximum cat allowance ordinances.  

tipped ear cat from CPAW NJ website.

If you have been particularly inspired to help with this message, please check out the CPAW NJ get involved page! The people here are kind, considerate, and willing to teach you. CPAW not only handles spay/neuter and TNR, they also handle surrender prevention by providing behavior advice, cat care for beginners, and even lost cat aid. CPAW NJ has taught me how important a cat can be to our human-made ecosystem. That, and gave me the important job of teaching about the tipped ear.