While this may be a new catch-phrase, it’s an age-old community problem.

Trap-Neuter-Return: a solution to a growing feral situation

It’s getting dark behind the supermarket, and Shayla, a volunteer with Central Virginia Regional Rescue, is baiting a humane drop trap with canned mackerel. She ties blue cord to the cage’s prop, quietly retreats to the cover of a low wall, and waits. A tiger-stripe approaches the food, wary and slow slung, his tail flicking side to side. He’s hungry. Shayla tugs hard on the cord, the prop flies, and the cage drops. One cat trapped. One of around twenty in this colony. Shayla talks low to the cat for a moment, then covers the cage with a blanket before pulling another trap and food from the trunk of her car and setting up again.

Neighborhoods—urban and rural—have always played host to strays. At a local Lynchburg strip mall, a kind-hearted resident puts out food and water each night for an hour or two to make sure a few abandoned cats have something to eat. Across town, on waste ground behind a big-box store, a CVRR “caretaker” sets out an evening meal for a larger group of ferals that have banded together for community and safety. Just two of the city’s colonies.

Unchecked breeding and continued abandonment means the colonies are getting larger . . . and the cats are getting sicker. Many see these groups as a problem that someone needs to solve.

But often, ill-conceived solutions make things worse. Trapping and dropping ferals off as “strays” at shelters creates tragedies as staff euthanize healthy and potentially adoptable cats to make room;  ferals—frantic and miserable in cages—are eventually euthanized since they seldom make great house pets. Mass extermination sounds like a solution but really isn’t. Studies show that post extermination, cat populations increase because “new cats move[d] into the sites to take advantage of resources that became available when previously dominant cats were removed” (qtd. in Animal Sheltering 2014).

But Trap-Neuter-Return . . . or TNR might be the best option. Here’s an idea of how it works –thanks to a team of volunteer Trappers, Overnighters, Transporters and Caretakers–in Lynchburg.

Trappers, armed with cage traps, gloves, and cans of cat food, visit known colonies and trap ferals one by one, then take them to the home of Overnighters who host the caged cats in basements or spare rooms. The following morning, Transporters take the cats to the Spay Neuter Clinic in Evington for surgery. Funded by a program run through the Lynchburg Humane Society, clinic staff spay/neuter and vaccinate each cat before clipping the tip of the ear to indicate the animal is feral and fixed. The following day, a Transporter returns the cat to the original colony where a Caretaker steps in to ensure the colony is regularly fed, visually checked for medical issues, and monitored for “untipped” animals in need of TNR.

Over time, feral kitten numbers drastically reduce, remaining fixed cats age out, and colonies shrink or disappear. Citizen Science, analyzed a recent TNR program in Chicago where colony populations reduced by 54% while eight of the original twenty colonies disappeared entirely (Animal Sheltering).

TNR is not a quick fix. Nonprofits need to identify and train volunteers and that takes time. Education is essential, too: animal lovers who randomly feed feral groups need to make sure these colonies are fixed or else the problem grows; communities have to know how best to minimize the impact colonies have on property and local wildlife; businesses might be more open to trapping around their properties; cities need to make it simpler for residents to spay and neuter their companion animals; and irresponsible owners must stop abandoning cats.

But until we reach the perfect solution of every cat loved and cared for, TNR seems to offer the best fix for a growing community problem.  

Animal Sheltering. https://www.animalsheltering.org/page/community-cats-scientific-studies-and-data

If you would like to find out more about the Trap Neuter Return program or if you would like to volunteer for one (or more) of the TNR team roles, please contact CVRR at http://www.cvrrescue.org or via the CVRR Facebook page.

Article by Bunny Goodjohn, CVRR Volunteer