TELL CITY – The results of a pilot program in Tell City are in, and according to Jim Carter, show the population of stray cats in the city to be approximately 3,000.
The News reported June 9 the test would entail catching feral cats, spaying or neutering them, clipping their ears so they could be identified as having undergone the procedure, then returning them to the areas where they were caught.
Carter, president of the Humane Society of Perry County, explained in June past practices have shown that returning cats to their own territories after rendering them unable to reproduce is an efficient way to reduce their populations, while simply eliminating them leaves a vacuum which soon becomes filled.
The test neighborhood was between Tell Street and the dog park and 16th to 12th streets. Twenty-nine cats were collected and altered from what amounted to 1.33 percent of the city’s developed area, Carter said, “with a minimum estimation of 40 in the pilot zone. If this proves to be the average density, then the approximate total population of alley cats in Tell City is 3,000 or more.”
Carter provided information from an organization called Alley Cat Allies, which launched National Feral Cat Day in 2001 to raise awareness about feral cats and promote trap-neuter-return efforts. The observance is conducted Oct. 16 every year.
“Feral cats have lived alongside humans for more than 10,000 years,” the organization reports on the website nationalferalcatday.org. “They are the same species as pet cats (but) live in groups called colonies and can thrive in every landscape. They are just as healthy as pet cats, but they are not socialized to humans and are therefore unadoptable.”
This program could not have been possible without the donations that the local residents provided in addition to the $1,000 the society earmarked for this special test,” Carter said.