What is a feral cat?

Gosling, Lara; Stavisky, Jenny; Dean, Rachel

doi:10.1177/1098612x13481034

Cited by 24 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Respondents who were female, younger, and/or a dog/cat owner showed less acceptance of strategies that cause wild dog and cat deaths directly due to human intervention. These findings support the work of others who argue the existence of the strong bond between humans, dogs and cats [ 2 , 14 ], the prominence of animal welfare concerns [ 35 ], and social and cultural factors affect people’s opinions and attitudes about different management strategies [ 30 , 36 , 37 ]. Females and dog and cat owners were overrepresented so our descriptive results (i.e., results in Section 3.2 and Section 3.3 , and Table 3 ) could have been affected by selection bias (i.e., could be biased relative to the entire Queensland population).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…In the case of managing dog and cat populations' impacts on wildlife, public opinions are conditioned by the strong bond that exists between humans and dogs and cats [2,14], public concerns for the welfare of both domestic animals and wildlife [35] and structural and cultural factors that affect people's attitudes to (and uses of) different management strategies [30,36,37]. Animal welfare concerns, in particular, encompass multiple species and forms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beliefs and Attitudes of Residents in Queensland, Australia, about Managing Dog and Cat Impacts on Native Wildlife

Carter

Paterson²,

Morton³

et al. 2020

Animals

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Many humans have created close relationships with wildlife and companion species. Notwithstanding that companion species were at some point themselves wild, some wild (i.e., feral) and domesticated (owned) dogs and cats now have significant impacts on wildlife. Many strategies exist to control the impact of dogs and cats on wildlife, but the successful implementation of management initiatives is tied to public opinions and the degree of acceptability of these measures. This paper reports the findings of a survey assessing the beliefs of residents in Queensland, Australia, about dog and cat impacts on wildlife, and their attitudes towards various strategies and options for controlling wild (i.e., feral) and domesticated (owned) dogs and cats. The responses of 590 participants were analysed. Our respondents collectively grouped strategies into those that directly cause wild dog and cat deaths and those that allow wild dogs and cats to live a ‘natural’ life, which is a variation on past research where respondents grouped strategies into lethal and non-lethal methods. Community acceptability of strategies that directly cause wild dog and cat deaths (each assessed using five-category Likert scores) was lower amongst females and respondents aged 34 years or less. Gender expectations in most places and cultures still predominately suggest that women are more ‘caring’, supportive of animal welfare, and perhaps cognizant that wild dogs and cats are also sentient creatures and appreciate the problematic tension between controlling wild and companion species. Age-related differences may reflect the changing social values of communities at different points in time. There was high support for regulations that enforce responsible pet ownership but not for the importance of pet-free suburbs, which the majority of respondents considered unimportant. These important variations in beliefs and attitudes require careful management within each community for the success of any program to control wild dogs or cats.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beliefs and Attitudes of Residents in Queensland, Australia, about Managing Dog and Cat Impacts on Native Wildlife

Carter

Paterson²,

Morton³

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…Thematic analysis is a method for identifying, analysing, and reporting patterns (themes) within data and has been successfully applied in other veterinary studies [43]. A proportion of the interviews ( n = 5; 21%) were coded independently by two researchers (Marnie Louise Brennan and Susanne Jarrett) prior to in-depth analysis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Attitudes and Beliefs towards Implementing Cattle Disease Prevention and Control Measures: A Qualitative Study with Dairy Farmers in Great Britain

Brennan

Wright

Wapenaar

et al. 2016

Animals

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Simple SummaryFurther understanding of why dairy farmers do not engage in disease prevention and control strategies (biosecurity) is required. Using semi-structured interviews informed by a health psychology approach with 25 dairy farmers, a number of barriers, such as disease testing inaccuracies, types of disease transmission, perceived lack of risk and effectiveness of measures, were identified. Motivators included being advised to undertake measures by veterinarians, and the increased threat and severity of the disease in focus. These results suggest there is an advantage to farm advisors and herd health professionals understanding and working with the beliefs of individual dairy farmers to target appropriate communication and advice strategies relating to biosecurity recommendations.AbstractDisease prevention and control practices are frequently highlighted as important to ensure the health and welfare of farmed animals, although little is known as to why not many practices are carried out. The aim of this study was to identify the motivators and barriers of dairy cattle farmers towards the use of biosecurity measures on dairy farms using a health psychology approach. Twenty-five farmers on 24 farms in Great Britain (GB) were interviewed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour framework. Results indicated that farmers perceived they had the ability to control what happened on their farms in terms of preventing and controlling disease, and described benefits from being proactive and vigilant. However, barriers were cited in relation to testing inaccuracies, effectiveness and time-efficiency of practices, and disease transmission route (e.g., airborne transmission). Farmers reported they were positively influenced by veterinarians and negatively influenced by the government (Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)) and the general public. Decisions to implement practices were influenced by the perceived severity of the disease in question, if disease was diagnosed on the farm already, or was occurring on other farms. Farmers described undertaking a form of personal risk assessment when deciding if practices were worth doing, which did not always involve building in disease specific factors or opinions from veterinarians or other advisors. These results indicate that further guidance about the intricacies of control and prevention principles in relation to specific animal diseases may be required, with an obvious role for veterinarians. There appears to be an opportunity for farm advisors and herd health professionals to further understand farmer beliefs behind certain attitudes and target communication and advice accordingly to further enhance dairy cattle health and welfare.

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“… Levy et al (2003) offers a broad category, “free-roaming,” and then divides that cat population into a mix of socialized stray cats that are willing to interact with humans, and unsocialized, or feral, cats. A more refined definition comes from Gosling et al (2013) a “feral cat” is one that is “unapproachable in its free-roaming environment and is capable of surviving with or without direct human intervention, and may additionally show fearful or defensive behaviour on human contact.” ( Slater et al 2013 ) and the ASPCA guidelines for identifying feral cats, were foundational to our Feral Classification System, detailed in the “Materials and Methods” section.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual classification of feral cat Felis silvestris catus vocalizations

Owens¹,

Olsen

Fontaine

et al. 2017

Current Zoology

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Cat vocal behavior, in particular, the vocal and social behavior of feral cats, is poorly understood, as are the differences between feral and fully domestic cats. The relationship between feral cat social and vocal behavior is important because of the markedly different ecology of feral and domestic cats, and enhanced comprehension of the repertoire and potential information content of feral cat calls can provide both better understanding of the domestication and socialization process, and improved welfare for feral cats undergoing adoption. Previous studies have used conflicting classification schemes for cat vocalizations, often relying on onomatopoeic or popular descriptions of call types (e.g., “miow”). We studied the vocalizations of 13 unaltered domestic cats that complied with our behavioral definition used to distinguish feral cats from domestic. A total of 71 acoustic units were extracted and visually analyzed for the construction of a hierarchical classification of vocal sounds, based on acoustic properties. We identified 3 major categories (tonal, pulse, and broadband) that further breakdown into 8 subcategories, and show a high degree of reliability when sounds are classified blindly by independent observers (Fleiss’ Kappa K = 0.863). Due to the limited behavioral contexts in this study, additional subcategories of cat vocalizations may be identified in the future, but our hierarchical classification system allows for the addition of new categories and new subcategories as they are described. This study shows that cat vocalizations are diverse and complex, and provides an objective and reliable classification system that can be used in future studies.

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What is a feral cat?

Cited by 24 publications

References 23 publications

Beliefs and Attitudes of Residents in Queensland, Australia, about Managing Dog and Cat Impacts on Native Wildlife

Beliefs and Attitudes of Residents in Queensland, Australia, about Managing Dog and Cat Impacts on Native Wildlife

Exploring Attitudes and Beliefs towards Implementing Cattle Disease Prevention and Control Measures: A Qualitative Study with Dairy Farmers in Great Britain

Visual classification of feral cat Felis silvestris catus vocalizations

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