This is a serious problem in my neighborhood. I am interested in knowing how people around the world deal with this problem. I made the poll to be a bit humerous but it does deal with a real problem. Please feel free to add additional solutions to the topic and don't fault me for trying to have some humor in a real problem. I by the way love cats in my house but not in my trash can.

Jim

can't you call the SPCA ? I think that is what they are called...

I live in Rural Kansas, not so rural I can shoot hem and yet my only option is asking animal control to come try and get them. Ever try to chase down a cat? Then once they catch them they will only take them to the humane society and hope somebody wants to adopt a cat that is vicious within 30 days or they destroy the animal anyway.

My vote is to trap them....

Feed them. I could NEVER harm a cat, feral or otherwise. Look at it this way, they have to eat SOMEHOW. If you feed them, they might start leaving your trash cans alone. Just my opinion of course.

Poison them.

I noticed you didn't include "give them free baths with a hose-and-nozzle if they approach within 2 m".

(this way, you can always direct them to a neighbour's property).

I voted trap them...but the entire idea includes spaying or neutering then asking around to see if anyone wants a barn cat. If the area is rural there will no doubt be people with large animals(horses,cows and the like) that would take you up on it.

My parents live in an area in Wisconsin where this problem is becoming common. They even tried to pass a law to make it legal to shoot them. I think live traps, or trap-neuter-release programs are the best and most humane way of handling the situation. Really, what causes it is people who don't spay or neuter their animals and then the issue just multiplies. I find this happens a lot in rural areas where people get a cat to 'de-mouse' the barns and don't want to spend the money to get them fixed. And given a few years, you have kitties kitties everywhere.

Are not barn cats like corn, you plant too much then thin as appropriate?

My city (which has a very serious stray animal problem) is trying a new approach on one colony of feral cats on city property.

They trap them (alive,) take them to be neutered/spayed, and then release them back where they were caught. The city figures that a year or two from now, there will be no more little feral kittens being born.

There has been a lot of public outrage lately about various methods of "disposing" of unwanted animals -- until very recently, the city was gassing them to death in a crude gas chamber. Also a nearby community made national headlines when stray dogs were put to death by drowning them in raw sewage.

We'll see how the experiment with the feral cats works.

Trap-neuter-release I think is the best way.

Has anyone noticed in India and Nepal you hardly ever see any stray cats? I thought this was very odd...

Stray dogs are another matter, and after having a terrifying encounter with one too many times in KTM I would advocate 'any means necessary'. My honey was bitten a couple of months ago and need to have a series of rabies shots - I will probably get them before I go, just in case.

I voted to feed them. There is no cats where I live but where my mother lives (in a very rural/farm area in PR) she buys a big friskies dry food bag and feeds them all. They eat and leave and don't even look in the trash or bother.

The funny thing is that she puts a couple of big plates and they all come and eat and when they are done and leave, the chickens/hens come to eat too! Ever seen hens eating friskies?? I didn't until I visited mom last summer!

Please don't shoot or poison them..

Not really. They just come out at night (I have seen some in Bangalore and Chennai; Pras has seen them in villages) and hide/sleep in daytime--cats are, by instinct, nocturnal stalking predators.

Certainly no shortage of foodsource (mice/rats/bandicoots--although prudent cats may avoid the last due to size; sparrows/mynas/city pigeons)



Agree--I've seen massive numbers in Bangalore, which even put on discordant "street symphonies". With these, better to use a 12-gauge shotgun if you have one.

(this shows EXACTLY how much of a chop_ that had-been model Maneka Gandhi is; while she's been known to advocate "catch-neuter-release" approach, her lack of clues on the first step make it like the infamous "bell the cat" fable).

I"m all for the trap/neuter/release idea.. there are too many kittens being born right now..
However, I do feed the local stray kitties at our house.. Most are just neighbours cats who dont get fed enough, or are hungry when they are outside, but I do have a stray cat who eats here regularly.. We thought he was feral at first, but it seems he's just been outside too long.. He now is quite friendly to my husband and I.. although we can't take him inside because he doesn't get along with our indoor cats. I fully intend to catch him one of these days and have him neutered.. I've even named him.. (Sampson.. he's a pretty big cat..)

Shoot them. This can be done in an humane way.

MR cat meet MR Remington 8/70 Shot Gun

Don't feed them. That only makes more cats.

I wouldn't put down poison because the poison isn't going to discriminate between someone's pet and a feral cat.

Catch-neuter-release or the humane society; sometimes they have no-kill shelters, and well, even if not, better a quiet euthanasia than having feral cats running around.

Ha I remember that attempt to make cat-shootin' legal. Fcukin' savages! I used to live in WI then... love Madison, take or leave the rest of the state...

Not always.. Feeding can also turn feral cats into friendly cats.. The one I feed used to run away every time we came near him, but now he is very friendly and we can catch him, and pet him. I fully intend to catch him soon and have him neutered though.. not sure a trap would have worked anyways, since there is supposed to be one near here for catching feral cats and he is still here..

catch anf fixing them then releasing them in no way gets them out of the area trash cans. I feel if you catch them and they are not claimed they need to be destroyed.

I am NOT a cat lover, but neither could I harm them.

I'm just sick and tired of my garden beds being their "potty"!!!!

Why do people think that animals who live outside and aren't claimed dont deserve to live? sure spay or neuter them so they dont become too many, but dont kill them just because there isn't a home available for them at that time... They are animals, they are capable of caring for themselves..

Overseas cat makes a delicious soup you can also add chicken and a snake, which is considered a delicacy.

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wtf??????????????????????????????/ eating kitty?????????????????????????????/

Feed them. Theyre good to have around, especially on a farm, keeps mice and rats under control

Absolutely!! I say we get rid of them. Hunt them. Put them on the hunter's list of prey. Then we eat them. Or give them to the needy. Scarves, food, etc. Kitties could be very useful!

I've recently heard that there is a new species called the Jason. A rare beast, it stalks around farms and tends to eat feral cats. Its meat is rather chewy though but don't let this put you off; if you tenderise it by using a mallet a few times the meat becomes quite sweet. Good for stews on a winter's night; serve with potatoes and some veggies.

Obviously what your neighborhood lacks is a couple packs of wild dogs, that would even things out. Just kidding!!! Spay and neuter if you can. Definately spay if a female. Turn over to the SPCA if necessary.

Eating "kitty" can be fun though! Just not that sort of "kitty."

http://www.abcbirds.org/cats/faqs.htm#Stray

At my parent's old house there was one feral female living in the backyard. My father would trap the babies and take them to the Humane Society. There were young enough that they could be kept as pets. I took two of them and they were the best cats. My dad could never catch the mother.

so true