Stray cats are a hazard to public health

I would like to commend Fred Carr on a job well done with the feline housing project that you had cleaned up ("Shelter's disappearance upsets felines' friends," April 25). Please be vigilant in your attempts to maintain safe and clean public parks and a safe town.

I am a professional wildlife control operator who has had to trap out many feral colonies and/or misguided attempts at trap, neuter and release (TNR) by individuals who have accumulated as many as 37 cats within their own home or just plain felt sorry for them. TNR is not the solution. This site that was cleaned up was not an official shelter by any means.

If a child is involved in a bite/scratch incident, who will take the responsibility, the colony cat caretakers? And who are they? Or will the town take the financial burden if they allowed such colonies? The general consensus says everyone runs and blames someone else - the child, parent or the cat - however, where does that leave those who are affected besides getting a set of rabies shots and possible exposure to a host of disease and parasites?

As a parent, I would like to see that all those responsible for such a fiasco be held legally responsible for these "managed" colonies. The term wildlife cannot apply as cats are not. A child will approach a cat or dog but will be very reluctant to approach a raccoon, skunk, fox or coyote.

A frequent problem at managed cat colonies is the presence of rabies-vector species including skunks, raccoons and fox as well as rats/mice. Not every cat in a colony can be trapped; therefore, not every cat is vaccinated for rabies, distemper or treated for parasites. Cats are not retrapped for subsequent vaccinations when initial inoculations expire. Colonies can consist of feral cats as well as free-roaming house cats.

TNR is a misguided attempt at controlling overpopulation that results in environmental irresponsibility, the mortality of native wildlife, and miserable living conditions (trash, makeshift housing) and tragic deaths for cats not to mention subsidized abandonment. TNR is based on perpetual colony maintenance and is done to avoid the euthanasia of cats, even though socialization of adult feral cats can be done much more so than TNR advocates would have folks think.

TNR has not been proven to reduce the numbers of feral cats and can pose a public health risk. The National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians has stated that there is no evidence that colony management programs will reduce diseases.

Frank Spiecker

Harbor Wildlife Control Inc.

Laurence Harbor