by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
It’s estimated there may be as many as 200,000 wild, or feral, cats living in Jacksonville. Many are pets whose owners prefer to let their feline rough it outdoors at least part of the time. Many others are “strays,” living strictly on their own and finding food and shelter wherever they can. Those are defined as “feral cats.”
For years, the City’s Animal Care & Protective Services Division was the last stop for cats that were picked up or trapped. When a stray cat was brought to the shelter, it was examined for health issues then fed and housed for three days before being euthanized at an estimated cost of $30 per cat. Based on an evaluation of statistics it was obvious the number of cats brought in wasn’t decreasing even though thousands of the animals were being euthanized every year.
In August, 2008 the City embarked on a partnership with First Coast No More Homeless Pets, a nonprofit organization that is partially funded by the City to administer “Spay Jax.” It’s a low-cost or even free pet spaying and neutering services for people who could not otherwise afford to properly care for their pets.
Sterilization is an important component of the feral feline issue. When allowed to reproduce, a localized cat population — or “colony” — can expand rapidly. Even kittens may become pregnant and give birth to a new generation of feral cats in 63-69 days.
Based on a trap-neuter-release model that has succeeded in managing cat colonies in other municipalities from New England to California, Jacksonville’s “Feral Freedom” program is a partnership between the City and FCNMHP funded by private donations and corporate grants. In its first 16 months the program has shown signs of stabilizing the local feral population and has reduced the number of cats being euthanized.
The most important element of “Feral Freedom” is neutering, said Cameron Moore, program manager for FCNMHP. Unless the cats are sterile when released, “Two can become 40 or 50 and that can create a nuisance. Our mission is to stop unwanted births.”
Moore also said, “The fact of the matter is Jacksonville is flooded with outdoor cats,” and even though there’s a leash law in force in Duval County, “Realistically, people don’t walk their cat on a leash.”
Scott Trebatoski, chief of Animal Care & Protective Services, said the program was started because the City had to look at options for animal control.
“For 20 years we trapped feral cats and euthanized them, but that did nothing to decrease the number of animals coming into the shelter,” he said. “It was time to think outside the box.”
Between August 2008 and July 2009, 12,833 cats were taken to the City’s shelter. Only 119 were returned to owners, while 778 were adopted and 6,593 were euthanized. In that same period, 4,838 were turned over to FCNMHP. Forty-four were euthanized and 272 were taken by local pet rescue organizations. The rest were examined, vaccinated, sterilized if needed and returned to the community.
Trebatoski said not having to process about 5,000 cats through the City’s system saved as much as $150,000 in the program’s first year, making it “very economical” and his division has received few complaints from the community about cat colonies.
He views the program as a success and agreed that feral cats are not going away any time soon, based on his estimate of 200,000 community cats.
“We know that people are feeding outdoor cats and the majority of community cats don’t cause any problems. Sterilizing them will reduce the population over time. It took decades for us to get to this point and it will take decades to get out of it,” said Trebatoski.
Moore said the vast majority of Jacksonville’s community cats are healthy and thriving and Feral Freedom has prevented killing thousands of animals that are “just hanging around being cats.”
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