Opinions from the Front Lines of Cat Colony Management Conflict

Peterson, M. Nils; Hartis, Brett; Rodriguez, Shari L.; Green, Matthew; Lepczyk, Christopher A.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044616

Cited by 73 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…Any owned or unowned cat with outdoor access may have an environmental impact, particularly wildlife predation, but the exact nature and severity of this impact is controversial Peterson et al, 2012). The environmental impact of cats is likely to vary between geographical areas, ecosystems, and between individual cats (Woods, Mcdonald and Harris, 2003;Peterson et al, 2012;Loss, Will and Marra, 2013).…”

Section: Environmental Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The environmental impact of cats is likely to vary between geographical areas, ecosystems, and between individual cats (Woods, Mcdonald and Harris, 2003;Peterson et al, 2012;Loss, Will and Marra, 2013). There is conflict between "pro-cat" and "pro-wildlife" groups about the impact of cats on native wildlife and ecosystems, which is difficult to assess (Grayson and Calver, 2004;Peterson et al, 2012;Farnworth, Watson and Adams, 2014;. The impact on wildlife can result from cats acting as disease vectors for wildlife in addition to predation .…”

Section: Environmental Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite caring for the cat, these people do not perceive ownership and are called "semi-owners" by some authors , although other authors might classify them as "cat caretakers" or "cat colony caretakers" Peterson et al, 2012).…”

Section: Semi-owned Catsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These problems include financial costs (Australian Companion Animal Council, 2010;, ethical costs associated with the euthanasia of many healthy cats and associated mental and physical health costs to people involved in the euthanasia of unwanted cats (Reeve et al, 2005;Rollin, 2011). In addition, the large numbers of unwanted cats can result in problems relating to the environment, conservation, and public health Peterson et al, 2012;Loss, Will and Marra, 2013). Health of pet cats and other species may also be adversely affected by large numbers of unwanted cats as a result of disease transmission, fighting, and hunting Peterson et al, 2012;Loss, Will and Marra, 2013).…”

Section: Chapter 1: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the large numbers of unwanted cats can result in problems relating to the environment, conservation, and public health Peterson et al, 2012;Loss, Will and Marra, 2013). Health of pet cats and other species may also be adversely affected by large numbers of unwanted cats as a result of disease transmission, fighting, and hunting Peterson et al, 2012;Loss, Will and Marra, 2013). There are also concerns about the welfare of unwanted cats, as they may suffer due to disease, inadequate food and water, cruelty, and injury .…”

Section: Chapter 1: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding human factors involved in the unwanted cat problem

Zito¹

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The large number of unwanted cats in many modern communities results in a complex, worldwide problem causing many societal issues. These include ethical concerns about the euthanasia of many healthy animals, moral stress for the people involved, financial costs to organisations that manage unwanted cats, environmental costs, wildlife predation, potential for disease spread, community nuisance, and welfare concerns for cats.Humans contribute to the creation and maintenance of unwanted cat populations and also to solutions to alleviate the problem. The work in this thesis explored human factors contributing to the unwanted cat problem-including cat ownership perception, cat caretaking, cat semi-ownership and cat surrender-and human factors associated with cat adoption choices and outcomes.To investigate human factors contributing to the unwanted cat problem, data were collected from 141 people surrendering cats to four animal shelters. The aim was to better understand the people and human-cat relationships involved, and ultimately to inform strategies to reduce shelter intake.Participants were recruited for this study when they surrendered a cat to a shelter and information was obtained on their demographics, cat interaction history, cat caretaking, and surrender reasons.This information was used to describe and compare the people, cats, and human-cat relationships contributing to shelter intake, using logistic regression models and biplot visualisation techniques.A model of cat ownership perception in people that surrender cats to shelters was proposed. A revised questionnaire was then used to explore cat ownership perception in a broader population of 1013 Australians. Data were collected on demographic, attachment, and caretaking factors through an internet survey. A framework based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour was used to determine attitudes, beliefs, social norms, and perceived behavioural control factors associated with cat ownership perception.In the population of cat surrenderers, both cat owners and non-owners shared a common concern for cats and their welfare. The majority of non-owners interacted with, formed attachments to, and felt responsible for the cats they surrendered, but differed from owners in their level of caretaking. The extent of cat semi-ownership in the study population was considerable, emphasising the need for identification of semi-owners contributing to shelter intake. This could help direct strategies aimed at reducing unwanted cat numbers. Determinants of ownership perception in people surrendering cats included cat acquisition method, association time, closeness of the human-cat relationship, and III degree of responsibility for the cat's care. Detailed analysis of surrender reasons, which were usually multifactorial, highlighted the complexity of the unwanted cat problem. The results suggested that the collection of more detailed information by shelters at the time of surrender is warranted to guide strategies to prevent future surrenders.The internet survey from a ...

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Section: Environmental Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Environmental Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Semi-owned Catsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Chapter 1: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Chapter 1: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding human factors involved in the unwanted cat problem

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Community Cats

Janeczko¹

2019

High‐Quality, High‐Volume Spay and Neuter and Other Shelter Surgeries

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Counting the Capital's cats: Estimating drivers of abundance of free‐roaming cats with a novel hierarchical model

Cove

Herrmann

Herrera

et al. 2023

Ecological Applications

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Free-roaming cats are a conservation concern in many areas but identifying their impacts and developing mitigation strategies requires a robust understanding of their distribution and density patterns. Urban and residential areas may be especially relevant in this process because free-roaming cats are abundant in these anthropogenic landscapes. Here, we estimate the occupancy and density of free-roaming cats in Washington D.C. and relate these metrics to known landscape and social factors. We conducted an extended camera trap survey of public and private spaces across D.C. and analyzed data collected from 1483 camera deployments from 2018 to 2020. We estimated citywide cat distribution by fitting hierarchical occupancy models and further estimated cat abundance using a novel random thinning spatial capture-recapture model that allows for the use of photos that can and cannot be identified to individual. Within this model, we utilized individual covariates that provided identity exclusions between photos of unidentifiable cats with inconsistent coat patterns, thus increasing the precision of abundance estimates. This combined model also allowed for unbiased estimation of density when animals cannot be identified to individual at the same rate as for free-roaming cats whose identifiability depended on their coat characteristics. Cat occupancy and abundance declined with increasing distance from residential areas, an effect that was more pronounced in wealthier neighborhoods. There was noteworthy absence of cats detected in larger public spaces and forests. Realized densities ranged from 0.02 to 1.75 cats/ha in sampled areas, resulting in a district-wide estimate of ~7296 free-roaming cats. Ninety percent of cat detections lacked collars and nearly 35% of known individuals were ear-tipped, indicative of district Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs. These results suggest that we mainly sampled and estimated the unowned cat subpopulation, such that indoor/outdoor housecats were not well represented. The precise estimation of cat population densities is difficult due to the varied behavior of subpopulations within free-roaming cat populations (housecats, stray and feral cats), but our methods provide a first step in establishing citywide

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Opinions from the Front Lines of Cat Colony Management Conflict

Cited by 73 publications

References 32 publications

Understanding human factors involved in the unwanted cat problem

Understanding human factors involved in the unwanted cat problem

Community Cats

Counting the Capital's cats: Estimating drivers of abundance of free‐roaming cats with a novel hierarchical model

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