A renewed call for conservation leadership 10 years further in the feral cat Trap‐Neuter‐Return debate and new opportunities for constructive dialogue

Abstract

It has been 10 years since a seminal paper in the journal Conservation Biology called for stronger leadership from the conservation community in countering the growing inappropriate use of Trap‐Neuter‐Return (TNR) as a method to control feral cat, Felis catus, populations. The practice is rapidly spreading to areas of wildlife and conservation significance, and the need to counter this development is extremely urgent. So far, the promulgation of TNR has been based on a narrow, single‐species approach to animal welfare. However, a new, yet little‐noticed, species‐inclusive perspective on animal welfare includes the consideration of collateral animal suffering for a more equitable assessment of TNR. Each setting, depending on the level of conservation required, may call for different methods for the management of free‐roaming cats. TNR is just one such method and its appropriateness depends on the specific wildlife conservation needs for each area specified.

Population estimate, natural history and conservation of the melanisticIguana Iguanapopulation on Saba, Caribbean Netherlands

“…Despite the rather large apparent population size, our assessment suggests that successful recruitment appears to be very low, likely impacted by very limited nest site availability, which is further exacerbated by the large and problematic feral goat population (Lotz et al 2020). Given the additional stressors of an island-wide feral cat population (Debrot et al 2014), iguana nesting and recruitment might be severely restricted on Saba. Our work provides a robust baseline for continued research, and highlights essential conservation and future research priorities.…”

“…Feral cat populations form a threat to many species (Woinarski et al 2015; Doherty et al 2016), including Iguanidae species, as hatchling and juvenile iguanas are especially vulnerable to cat predation (Iverson 1978; Mitchell et al 2002; Wilson et al 2004; van den Burg et al 2018a). Debrot et al (2014) studied the effect of cats on the Saban Red-billed Tropicbird population using a combination of surveys, camera trapping and faeces analyses. Cats were confirmed to be present island-wide, with higher densities at lower dry elevations, especially close to the landfill area east of the Fort Bay harbor.…”

“…Although some data on hatchling ecology, movement and survival is present from mainland I. iguana populations (e.g., Bock 1984), such data remain lacking for insular islands but would be valuable for conservation management purposes. Finally, a catremoval campaign that followed Debrot et al (2014) was only temporary and local in focus, suggesting that feral cats still occur across the island, however recent data are lacking and should be the focus of a future research effort.…”

Misunderstanding the free‐ranging cat issue: Response to Debrot et al. 2022

“…As authors of the original works calling attention to the need to understand trap-neuter-release (TNR) in conservation biology (Lepczyk et al, 2010;Longcore et al, 2009) as well as having collectively worked on issues surrounding feral and free-ranging cats for over 50 years, we appreciate the renewed interest in the topic. However, we found the recent article A renewed call for conservation leadership 10 years further in the feral cat Trap-Neuter-Return debate and new opportunities for constructive dialogue by Debrot et al (2022) to have understated or missed several key pieces of information relevant to conservation. As a result, the Perspective serves to obfuscate rather than clarify current conservation and management efforts focused on free-ranging cats by minimizing existing knowledge and selective use of the literature to support points.…”

Zoonotic parasites associated with predation by dogs and cats

“…Given humanity’s emotional attachment to cats and dogs, the general appeal and tight relationship between dogs, cats and humans has hindered their population control, since reduction or elimination plans may be considered animal abuse [ 52 – 54 ]. Hence, policy makers and legislators have imposed softer control measures such as the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program in the USA for cats or the outdoor cat colonies in many countries in Europe, completely prohibiting euthanasia as a control measure [ 55 , 56 ]. Consequently, invasive cat and dog populations have had a devastating impact in places such as Galapagos Islands, Mauritius, Madagascar and Australia, to name a few [ 57 – 60 ].…”