Feral cats??

[Chaddy]

At a convening of the board ( down at the pub of course ) the topic of feral cats appeared on the agenda.There was an obvious strong difference of opinion on the subject.
One board member said that feral cats where an absolute nuisance playing havoc with his treasured garden,spread disease, and are good for nothing.
Another board member said that if feral cats vanished overnight we would be over run with likes of rats,mice,snakes and other undesirables and are much needed.
Mmmmm,is there any evidence to prove either argument

[Dominic]

Feral cats won't attacking the wiring in your car.

[WHL]

I read that there are more cats then people in Cyprus, so a sensible workable plan to control the numbers needs to be put in place, well meaning people who go and dump cat food all over the place to feed them, are only adding to the problem in my opinion.

[tina]

A lot of people who feed these cats also get them neutered, I know this as I've taken 5 cats and got them neutered.
My neighbour just adopted 2 feral kittens and waiting to get them done when old enough.

[staffie]

I was a regular visitor to corfu over 30 years ago and there was rats everywhere, even on mouse island where the small chapel is, and hardly a cat to be seen, don't know what the situation is now.

[WHL]

A lot of people who feed these cats also get them neutered, I know this as I've taken 5 cats and got them neutered.
My neighbour just adopted 2 feral kittens and waiting to get them done when old enough.

Agree some very good people caring for cats, near us I saw a woman in lidls car park, going around dumping cat food everywhere then getting into her car and leaving , now you have to step over cats, no neutering just cats chasing each other to get a leg over

[Devil]

It is estimated that there are 1.5 million feral cats in the Republic but don't ask me how they know! That is roughly twice as many as there are humans. They cause immeasurable damage to nature and are a vector for disease. It seems probable that their average lifetime is less than 2 to 3 years but, fortunately, the females have small litters. These so-called "do-gooders" who feed them increase their fecundity, so the litters are bigger and the individual animals have a longer lifetime thus exacerbating the problem. Sterilisation is a waste of money because for every cat that is done, there are tens that are not done.

[JimX]

I always say Cats no Rats, Rats no Cats, I know what I prefer...

[trevnhil]

In our time in Cyprus we have had three cats, all of the seeming to be strays, but I am not sure about them being Feral. We have taken all three to the vets to be spayed or neutered. Two have gone, one killed by a snake bite.
But we still have one female cat that comes for two or three meals a day..

[Firefly]

We had four feral cats. One had to be put to sleep, due to on going health problems, the result of being tortured

The other three we had for nine years, sadly one had to also be put to sleep due to a medical condition. The two remaining we brought to the UK with us when we returned. They were all loving and tame in no time. Best thing we ever did.

[Devil]

I always say Cats no Rats, Rats no Cats, I know what I prefer...

Get rid of 90% of them, still no rats. However, there may be more birds and other wildlife, until the 10% increase to 20% in a year, 50% in 2 years and the arguments restart.

[Kili01]

The only sensible solutions to the increasing feline population is either to neuter them all, or to euthanise any and every one that can be caught.That's being realstic.
Part of the problem is that visitors often feed them while they are here on holiday. Thus helping well fed cats to reproduce. It's cruel really as in winter when holidays are over, these cats have to scavenge for food through the winter..

Dee

[PhotoLady]

In other European countries, they have a policy where the feral males are captured and neutered then released back to where they were trapped.
One ear is clipped at the corner to identify it's no longer in a position to pro-create.

[JimX]

I feed and look after three stray cats, they have all been neutered with large nicks on their ears...... also we have a 15 year old Dachshund cross that was thrown in a large green rubbish bin in our area as a pup...no regrets in fact I hate those that treat badly any animal with great disdain.

And devil what you going to say about the so called hunters who shoot small birds by the hundreds for the love of it?

[PhotoLady]

I feed and look after three stray cats, they have all been neutered with large nicks on their ears...... also we have a 15 year old Dachshund cross that was thrown in a large green rubbish bin in our area as a pup...no regrets in fact I hate those that treat badly any animal with great disdain.

And devil what you going to say about the so called hunters who shoot small birds by the hundreds for the love of it?

Nice job, Jim.
All of our dogs and cats have been rescues in some shape or form too.
Since we no longer have any pets, we still support the animal rescue in Cyprus who assisted getting our dogs back to UK when we returned in 2016 and the counterpart it works with here in UK, a kennel free rescue.
I understand they were featured on one of the breakfast TV shows earlier this week, following a video Sir Alex Ferguson did by way of support.
Many of their dogs arrive from Cyprus, Hungary and now Romania.

[ast]

Strange how these things come up but i happened to be speaking to a delivery driver in the uk two weeks ago and he told me his two dogs both came from a Paphos dog rescue, he had never been to Cyprus himself.

[Devil]

And devil what you going to say about the so called hunters who shoot small birds by the hundreds for the love of it?

Hang, draw and quarter them. Seriously, if I had the power, I'd outlaw all hunting with 5 years min for first offence and 10 y thereafter.

[josef k]

Some numbers to dwell on (from a cat welfare organisation):

Cyprus has a cat population of around 1.5 million.
Cats neutered per year are around 3000.
Cats left to breed are around 1.497 million.

The average cat has 1-8 kittens per litter and 2 - 3 litters per year. This results is a maximum of 24 kittens per year. Multiply this by 50% of the cats not neutered (assuming females are 50% of the population) and the result is a possible increase of approximately 36 million additional cats per year.

Clearly, this final figure is not what is happening on the ground, being only theoretical annual increases in the cat population. It does, however, demonstrate the inadequacy of the neutering programme. Even if the programme was increased ten-fold, it would still be inadequate.

My view is to continue the neutering programme, increase it if possible. But also make feeding cats outside the home an offence, allowing nature to take it's course in controlling the population.
The alternative is allowing the cat population to continue to increase, or commencing a mass cull of cats.

[Lincoln]

My view is this. If people stopped feeding the wild cats the would have to feed themselfs on vermin. The life span of the cats would decrease dramaticaly. There are far too many of theses cats all over Cyprus.

[staffie]

The alternative is allowing the cat population to continue to increase, or commencing a mass cull of cats.
[/quote]

perhaps while culling animals, be an idea to trim the humans down a bit, there the ones killing the planet an nature, limiting births, Mars on the agenda to ruin next.