Kowalski says it is hard enough to 

 find homes for the shelter's docile 

 strays and contends that ferals are 

 dangerous and breed disease. 



"I guess the basic philosophy 

 difference is some people say cats are 

 not meant to live in the wild — that a 

 cat without a human companion is not 

 living a full life," says Shumway. 

 "There are others who say yes, cats 

 make fine pets, but they also live a 

 happy, complete existence in the wild. 

 As a veterinarian I can see both points 

 of view. They are both aiming toward 

 the same goal, which is reducing the 

 population of feral cats." 



Just up N.C. 12 at Pea Island 

 National Wildlife Refuge, feral cats 

 are caught in Havahart (cage) traps 

 and shot, says park biologist Bob 

 Noffsinger. Removal of non-native 

 species is consistent with park policy. 

 The number of feral cats in the refuge 

 is not known; Noffsinger estimates 10 

 to 12 have been exterminated within 

 the past year. 



Feral cats are blamed for the 

 destruction of the eggs and young of 

 nesting waterbirds such as gadwalls 

 and black ducks, he says, adding that 

 feral cats also prey on stilts and other 

 wading birds, although they've never 

 been caught in the act. 



"Not very often do you see a 

 predator take something out there," 

 says Noffsinger, adding that the only 

 other culprits might be raccoons and 

 the occasional mink. If raccoons 

 become a problem, they will be 

 relocated. Noffsinger says there is no 

 appropriate place to relocate feral cats. 



Ries Collier, a biologist at Cape 

 Hatteras National Seashore, says that 

 the loss of piping plover nests shows 

 "a fairly clear indication of cats." He 

 says the seashore's only direct control 

 program to date has been predator- 

 proof trash cans at fish cleaning 

 stations along the beach. 



Statistics linking feral cats and 

 free-roaming housecats to the destruc- 



tion of wildlife and songbirds are 

 copious indeed. The mere title of a 

 1992 article in American City and 

 County magazine is chilling: "Feral 

 Cats and Silent Spring." In it, a Golden 

 Gate Audubon Society spokesman 

 attributes the extermination of wrens 

 in a San Francisco park to the resident 

 feral cat colony. Another Bay area 

 naturalist quoted in the article esti- 

 mates that millions of birds are 

 destroyed each year by both feral and 

 pet cats. 



But evidence from the other side 

 of the fence suggests that feral cats are 

 sometimes unfairly left holding the 

 bag of blame for bird mortalities. For 

 example, in San Francisco's Golden 

 Gate Park, decline in bird numbers 

 also coincided with new park land- 

 scaping that altered habitats and food 

 sources, according to a 1992 article in 

 ACA's newsletter, Alley Cat Action. 

 Ferals are a visible, convenient target, 

 says ACA; since canaries warned coal 

 miners of deadly gas levels, birds have 

 been considered "indicators" of 

 ecological distress. 



N.C. State University zoologist 

 Roger Powell says free-roaming pet 

 cats are probably a bigger hazard to 

 birds and small mammals than feral 

 cats. A well-fed pet cat that goes 

 outdoors will still hunt, and in urban 

 areas with less wildlife habitat, even 

 slight predation can be detrimental. 



Free-roaming pet cats can be as 

 dense as 200 per square mile, says 

 Powell. "The density of feral cats is 

 going to be relatively low," he says. 



The trap-sterilize-release philoso- 

 phy adopted by ACA and the groups 

 on the Outer Banks is based on a 

 method now used in parts of the 

 United Kingdom and South Africa. 

 Adopted after extermination of 

 colonies failed to rid areas of feral 

 cats, the method is advocated by some 

 veterinarians and zoologists. ACA and 

 its supporters believe that as long as 

 there is a food source — be it garbage, 



rodents or birds — other ferals will 

 move in to claim the territory and breed 

 to carrying capacity. The premise is that 

 a sterilized colony will be healthier — 

 because of reduced mating and fighting 

 — and keep out encroachers. But trap- 

 sterilize-release programs are encour- 

 aged only in areas where there are 

 people who agree to feed the animals. 



The situation of ferals on the Outer 

 Banks may be another story. Feral cats 

 are opportunistic feeders with an 

 extremely varied diet. On small islands 

 with flightless and ground-feeding birds 

 and few or no native predators, the 

 effects of feral cats can be harmful. 



"One of the most bizarre examples 

 was the discovery and extinction of the 

 Stephen Island wren ... by a single 

 domestic cat," writes Andrew 

 Kitchener in The Natural Histoiy of the 

 Wild Cats. "This tiny island in the Cook 

 Strait of New Zealand was home to an 

 almost flightless native species of wren. 

 In 1894, a lighthouse keeper arrived on 

 the island with his cat, which dis- 

 patched the entire population." 



The impact of feral cats varies by 

 situation and is dependent on many 

 factors, including available prey and 

 geography. 



Feral house cats are one of five 

 non-native species cited in Birds and 

 Mammals of the Cape Hatteras 

 National Seashore, a 35-year inventory 

 of the park's fauna. The others — 

 which are also food sources for cats — 

 include the house mouse, Norway rat, 

 black rat and nutria. Though the effect 

 of these non-natives is not well-known, 

 it is "not natural and therefore probably 

 not beneficial," writes co-author James 

 Parnell, a University of North Carolina 

 at Wilmington ornithologist. 



Though the debate over whether to 

 sterilize or euthanize is fierce, both 

 factions are drawing attention to a 

 problem — uncontrolled feline breed- 

 ing — that has everything to do with 

 people and little to do with cats. 



Carla B. Burgess 



22 MAY I JUNE 1993 



