Feral cats: Who's responsible?
November 17th, 2009 by CatThere's a sign up at the Hawai'i Kai Dog Park, managed by the nonprofit Hui 'Ilio Hawai'i.
It warns dog owners about someone poisoning the feral cats that roam the Park & Ride facility, where the dog park is located.
What do we care, right? We're dog owners, after all. We don't like the feral cats — and the malodorous urine and feces they leave behind.
Right?
Well, turns out, dog owners are typically animal lovers in general. And more than a few of us were shocked.
Here's the thing: No one denies there's a feral cat problem in the area. In fact, it's not just confined to the dog park. People have been complaining about feral cats all over the state, from the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus to Koko Head District Park. (Read blogger Paula Bender's take on the problem in her backyard.) The state Department of Health has also been investigating complaints about feral cats at Kaka'ako Waterfront Park.
It's a statewide problem.
Not only do these feral cats — wild offspring of domestic cats, the result of owner abandonment — spread disease, but, according to the American Bird Conservancy, they are contributing to the decline of Hawai'i's bird population. And that's of particular concern when we talk about threatened and endangered native species.
Action is being taken. The Hawaii Cat Foundation teamed up with the Hawaiian Humane Society to run a program that better manages the feral cat population.
Known as Trap, Neuter, Return and Manage, the program, which encourages people to only feed feral cats that have been tagged and spayed/neutered, has prevented the births of tens of thousands of unwanted kittens.
But not everyone is a fan of programs like that.
Some argue that feral cats should be euthanized — like the 87 percent of cats turned into the Humane Society. Others say feeding the cats, regardless if they're fixed, only exacerbates the problem.
But what else is there to do, aside from fine cat owners who recklessly abandon their animals in a cruel world where they will likely meet a horrible death?
Got a solution?
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Tags: cat, dog, dog park, euthanize, feral cat, hawaii, Hawaii Cat Foundation, Hawaii Kai, Hawaiian Humane Society, Hui Ilio Hawaii, Park & Ride, toth
November 17th, 2009 at 3:17 am
Hmm, not sure this problem is totally due to owners abandoning their cats. When Mark Twain was writing his famous "Letters from Hawai'i," in the 1860s one of the first things he commented on after his arrival in Honolulu was "... tame cats, wild cats, singed cats, individual cats, groups of cats, platoons of cats, companies of cats, regiments of cats armies of cats ..." well you get the idea. The problem has been around for quite a while, not sure there is a solution.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:29 am
Cats are awesome predators. Would be a big mistake to introduce species capable of diminishing the feral cat population (humans have made some huge miscalculations in that regard in the past). Efforts to guide and educate pet owners are worthwhile, but destined to be less than fully effective.
Didn't see anything in today's post about a rat problem. I'll take the cat problem any day.
mc, Twain referred to the archipelago as the "Sandwich Islands" in other works. Ah simpler times, but same cats...
November 17th, 2009 at 5:57 am
When I was working for the State, before I moved here to the mainland, I was working with the landowner at Kaka'ako to address this problem. Most specifically...the Cat Lady. That was a unique situation but for the issue Cat is blogging about, the only easy solution is to trap the cats and kill them. Problem solved. Trying to find the an owner and fine them sounds good in theory, but would be impossible to enforce. (especially if HPD had any part in this! Did I say that?)
November 17th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Are you a professional journalist? You write very well.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Cat, the problem is not owners that abandon cats. By the time you see a colony of cats, the problem is already established. It's those that feed the feral cats in open areas where the cats then further breed. I remember a "Cat Lady" once who wound up feeding 59 cats daily, causing a major flea infestation near a building. Someone spoke to her about it, and eventually she stopped feeding the cats. The solutions in other locals are trapping/removing the cats, and fining those feeding the cats.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:24 am
While its true that feral cats are a problem, there are also benefits to having them around. A good example of this happened years ago at UH Manoa when all of the feral cats were rounded up. All of the rats started multiplying causing a huge rat problem. Its a double edged sword to get rid of all of the cats. I am in favor of population control through the humane society's program.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:42 am
I'm not sure of a solution, but I think current cat owners have a role to play in the problem, particularly those who try to do "good deeds" by taking in cat after cat yet fail to properly spay/neuter or medically care for the animals.
I saw a friend of mine go from one rescue cat to seven, then to 12 when one of those had babies, in just about a year's time. She kept saying she would give the cats away, but she held on to her "cuties," and then refused to part with them once they were past kitten-age, knowing that the Humane Society would likely euthenize them. It was really sad and frustrating to see her kindness go over the edge, and to see how poorly she cared for the animals -- clearly she didn't spay/neuter since the second generation of kittens were fathered by indoor cats who were brother and sister! I thought it was all quite irresponsible on her part.
If you can't take good care of animals, for their sake and the rest of society's, don't take them in!
November 17th, 2009 at 9:12 am
How about the people who insist on feeding feral cats being required to hang around and clean up their urine and feces that have made so many of our parks hazardous to the health of humans and domestic pets? Koko Head District Park is just about unusable. It reeks and there are cat corpses on the road almost every day. The animals have now branched out and colonized the hillsides surrounding Hanauma Bay. At night, they use the sand our children play in for kitty litter. On the mainland two cats have become ill with swine flu. Is there a dept. of health plan in place should the feral cats get the flu? Our native birds are primarily ground nesters. No wonder they are almost extinct. Thanks cat ladies.
November 17th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I had a couple of cats who used to hang around the house at night. They would sing at night. They left awhile ago and with them went the fleas.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
What would my night walk around Hawaii Kai be without dodging feral cats and ducks? They're not even scared of me anymore...
Funny though, I hike Koko Crater about 5 times a week and I've never seen feral cats by that way.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
what if every animal is tagged with a micro-chip and registered (like vehicles). owners would need to register their animals (buying or selling), and the registered owners would be fined if their animal(s) are found abandoned, etc.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
When we moved into my house in upper Palolo there were a ton of cats that drove my dog crazy. One day one of them was too slow to escape the yard and my dog ripped it's head off! My dog ain't a pit bull, just a nice little hound mix. Good doggie!
November 17th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
at least feral cats mind their own business. when dogs go feral they form packs, set up territorial boundaries and chase night time bike riders like me. and dogs don't hunt rats, cats do. and honolulu has got as many rats as it has people. a few hundred cats probably won't hurt anything, and might help. they make an awful racket at night, but so do SYM DD 50s.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
if no one claims responsibility for these animals they need to be controlled.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
if no one claims responsibility for these animals, their population needs to be controlled.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I dislike cats, but agree that killing them is horrible. I vote neuter!!!
November 18th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Nice post & nice blog. I love both.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Eh, Max writes:
November 17th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
What would my night walk around Hawaii Kai be without dodging feral cats and ducks? They're not even scared of me anymore...
Funny though, I hike Koko Crater about 5 times a week and I've never seen feral cats by that way.
From Lavagal aka Paula Bender:
I don't know if there are cats in Koko Crater or up the trail, but there are tons at Koko Head District Park. Try coming out there at dusk. The kitties gather, awaiting the arrival of a man in a truck who dumps piles of dry cat food all around the area where the sign is. My girls take aikido at the park and they LOVE seeing the kitties.
I agree something has to be done, though. I own cats. I adopted three that were born in my garage. I did the right thing: had the girls spayed, the boy neutered, and never again were kittens born in my garage (they were the third litter from strays).
But one cannot own all the cats in the world. Poisoning is cruel. A possible solution would be to feed them birth control? I don't have any idea if that's too expensive, but, it's done with pigeons, right?
Aloha from Hawaii Kai!