Some people contend that the TNR method has one serious drawback - the cats are still around, spraying, fighting, mating noisily, and spreading disease. Neutering eliminates most of the objectionable behavior exhibited by unaltered cats, and, before the cats are released, they are treated for any diseases they may have and vaccinated against rabies. In addition, ferals in a well-managed colony tend to remain healthy after release.
Others object to cats because of their supposed predation on songbirds and other animals. Over 60 studies on several continents have all come to the same three conclusions: (1) Cats are opportunistic feeders. They will eat what they can obtain most easily, which is more likely to be garbage or hand-outs than birds. (2) Birds make up only a small percentage of the diet of cats who have to hunt for food. They much prefer rodents. (3) In spite of cats' preference for rodents, rats and mice abound, proving that cats can prey on a population without destroying it. Why, then, are songbirds declining in some places? The answer, according to biologist Dr. Robert Berg, is habitat destruction by humans. In 1992, the declining songbird population in Golden Gate Park was blamed on ferals, when, in fact, the real cause was a landscaping program that had destroyed much of the birds' habitat.
Perhaps you live in a neighborhood that has no feral cat colony. If you are a taxpayer, you still need to be concerned about this problem. In the first 4 1/2 years of operation, the Feral Cat Coalition sterilized over 7,000 cats, reducing cat impounds and euthanasia by 50% and saving the county nearly $1 million! Controlling feral cat populations through trapping, neutering, and releasing is not only humane, it's cost-effective. Let's quit responding to half-baked scare stories and begin making intelligent decisions based on fact. Or, as Sarah Hartwell, who has written many articles about feral conditions, put it, let's "kill the problem, not the cats."
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