Feral cats are free-roaming domestic cats that have lost contact with humans or have never had contact with humans and have become unsocialized to human contact. Feral cat colonies are groups of feral cats living in close proximity to one another, reproducing freely and threatening native wildlife populations or domestic animals through predation or disease.
Free-ranging cats also act as sources of dangerous diseases that have serious implications for human health. Allowing cats to range freely outdoors is dangerous and inhumane for the cats as well. During their time outside the home, cats are at risk for vehicle trauma, large predators, disease, and adverse weather conditions.
Therefore, CCSPCA supports efforts to encourage responsible pet ownership, to keep domestic cats indoors or controlled on a leash and to manage feral cat overpopulation by establishing alternatives to feral cat colonies. We perform feral cat spay/neuter surgeries for the public as well as rescue organizations and will continue to do so because we support the spaying and neutering of cats to help end the overpopulation of unwanted cats in our community. We do not support the deliberate establishment of feral cat colonies and the release of feral or unwanted cats outdoors with such programs as TNR (trap/neuter/neuter/release) or SNR (shelter/neuter/release).
Here is some good advice from PETA: “If your local shelter is considering adopting a policy of refusing to admit cats or abandoning them outdoors in order to avoid including them on their annual intake and outcome statistics, remind shelter officials that their top priority should be animal welfare and safety—not deceptive, feel-good statistics.”
Learn more here:
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Top 3 Dangers to Be Aware of When Letting Cats Outside
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The great outdoors? Not for cats!
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Feral Cats
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Leaving Homeless Kittens on the Streets is Cruel, Not Kind