Trap-Neuter-Return

[Catherine]

I am proud of Toronto in this area. I do want to point out we didn't come up with the idea and a lot of other cities are using the plan to deal with feral cats.

It is a humane solution to a problem that we created by releasing cats in areas where they are not native and don't really do well. I think the city feral cats multiply and do not find a balance. In a farm setting things could stabilize and the cats would have places like barns for shelter.

In Toronto our weather is too hash in winter and there are predators like coyotes and racoons. Also people feed them without helping them. Two abandoned female cats in my neighbourhood ended up creating a colony of forty cats in two years. They were sickly and injured by racoons. It was a sad thing because so many of the kittens were totally wild and could not be rescued. If someone had rescued the original two females there wouldn't have been a problem.
Once the TNR program was started in Toronto this colony was taken care of. They were fed and sheltered in place. Since they were vaccinated they were healthier and of course there were no more kittens. I think the colony might be gone now. I haven't seen one of the cats around when I go past that area.
It is a real solution that works and it is humane.

If we could only apply this to our other animal situations. Culls are cruel and they don't work.