SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — They use flowerbeds as their personal toilets, scratch cars, fight under houses at night and can multiply at nearly the speed of rabbits, but feral cats are one of the most effective natural methods of rodent control.
Feral cats — cats gone wild from living without human contact for years — are considered a nuisance by some and useful predator by others. More than 3,000 cats (stray and feral) are euthanized in Caddo Parish each year.
"They don't belong to anybody, and the general public has to pay for (spay and neuter)," Freda Powell, director of Robinson Rescue, a low-cost spay/neuter clinic in Shreveport, said.
Susan Janiszewski, of Stonewall, doesn't mind paying that price. She is in the process of getting 12 cats that reside on her property spayed or neutered through Robinson Rescue.
"I would much rather trap and release," Janiszewski said. "I see rats and snakes down the road. We never see any here. I'd much rather feed the cats."
Feral cats are different from strays, which are tame and can be handled by humans. However, a stray cat's kittens can become feral if there is no human contact. And the cycle continues.
A feral colony can consist of 20 or more cats, and without being spayed, a female cat can become pregnant 10 times in a lifetime or about two to three times per year, said Dr. Andrea Master, of Robinson Rescue.
"They have a place and purpose," Master said. "The idea is (with spaying and neutering) the colony will eventually fade out. Spay/neuter is a way of control."
Feral cats are generally skittish of human contact and pose no more health risk to humans than that of squirrels, possums and other carriers of rabies, Master said.
Trapping is the most effective way of catching feral cats by those seeking to spay or neuter and for animal control. Robinson Rescue and Caddo and Bossier City animal control offer traps for rent with a refundable deposit.
"We can't capture them like a dog, but we set traps," Caddo Parish Animal Control Director Everett Harris said. "If it's not aggressive in nature, we can adopt it out. If it's aggressive, and we can't adopt it out, unfortunately, we have to put it down."
Local animal control agencies do not differentiate feral cat statistics from strays. Caddo Parish takes in about 65 cats per week, and Bossier City gets about 125 per week. And most of those cats are euthanized.
"Cats are very hard to get adopted," Harris said. "The young ones — they're very easy to get adopted. Older ones may be shy and not socialized and we have staff that works with them. The stress of the shelter atmosphere makes them nervous. They can hear the dogs barking. But a feral cat that's hissing and biting at the cage, we're not going to mess with them."
Robinson Rescue spays and neuters about 15 feral cats each month. Since opening in September 2008, the clinic has fixed 483 feral cats, which are recognizable by a tipped left ear.
"That's a low number compared to how many are in the area," Master said.
Like dogs, cats are not supposed to roam free. By law, cats too should bear a rabies tag and remain on the owner's property, Harris said. Enforcement of loose cats is different, though.
"They don't go around attacking people," Harris said. "But if a cat is on your property, you have the right to trap it and bring it in. (If it's feral), the cat may have battle scars. They're hungry, going from house to house and looking for food. When it's a neighbor's cat (people) know."
Powell said a person wishing to keep feral cats around simply has to feed them.
"Feed them, and they'll never go away — you'll be friends for life," she said. "But spay or neuter them unless you want 15."
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