IT’S A CAT TRAP

When people hear the terminology ‘feral cat–trapping’ they can often feel alarmed at the connotations the word trap conjures up. The reality is, however, that automatic and manual cat–traps are an essential and humane piece of equipment for any Animal Welfare Officer working to keep urban cat colonies healthy and secure.

There are tens of thousands of feral cats living in and around London and it is unlikely that any of them will become tame enough to live with people.Any rescue home wishing to collect and re–home all of London’s feral felines would have to possess unlimited resources and space. As a result, the best methodology to pro–actively deal with the numbers of ferals is to release them back in to their local habitat after health–checks have been carried out.These animals certainly have no wish to live closely alongside people and they will have chosen their colony location for a reliable food source and a certain degree of warmth and comfort. It can be a common projection for people to believe ferals would be happier living inside a family home, but they have no affinity with people and to remove them from an environment they have known their whole lives would be terrifying.

The Mayhew Animal Home runs a Trap, Neuter and Return (TNR) programme and after the cats are neutered back at the clinic, they are fleaed, wormed, checked over and released – providing their original location isn’t under an imminent threat. One un–neutered female and her offspring can produce 42,000 cats in seven years. As a result, if kittens are found then The Mayhew does try and socialise them within the Home so they are able to be re–homed with a family.This needs to be addressed while the kittens are still very young to be successful and can often be difficult as they don’t venture out to find food till around four weeks. If The Animal Welfare teams are not able to trap them early enough and socialise them, they may have to return to their primary habitat.This situation is not ideal but with limited space and resources it is impossible to take them all.The trapping procedure can be a lengthy process and our AWO’s sometimes have to wait hours and even days to trap the animals manually, or set automatic traps that close after the cat steps on an activating pedal. Food is the key incentive for encouraging animals towards the traps, and then it is often just a waiting game.

After ferals have been re–released it is important to prevent their continual re–entrapment and an internationally recognised marking system is employed within the world of animal welfare. Ear–tipping involves cutting a 6–10mm piece out of one of the cat’s ears to identify they are a neutered animal.This procedure is carried out under anaesthetic and is entirely painless.

Addressing the issue of feral cats is an essential part of welfare work for animal officers in London.While it would be ideal to re–home and relocate the thousands of stray animals, an efficient programme to protect these animals in their own environment is invaluable and a programme that needs the essential support of Londoners through financial donations and environmental awareness; enabling The Mayhew to help more stray animals.