It prevents unwanted kittens, therefore breaking the breeding cycle, allows the cats to live out their lives in their own territory, and over time actually results in a reduction of the cat population. The most effective and humane way of dealing with neighborhood cats is leaving the cats where they are and having them spayed or neutered. It is an ineffective use of taxpayer dollars to trap, hold and then euthanize feral cats. Removing cats from an area is not a good long-term solution as the void left by the cats removed will soon be filled by more cats - or other species such as raccoons, opossums or skunks (the 'vacuum effect'). Because feral cats are unsocialized and therefore not adoptable, bringing feral cats to the shelter is not the best option as they will most likely be euthanized. Whatever their origin, most survive where there is food and shelter and do well in a variety of settings, from urban to rural.Ĭats living in the neighborhood, whether friendly or feral, owned or not, are referred to as 'neighborhood' or 'community' cats. Feral cats can still have a caregiver, someone who is providing food and shelter, or they may seek food and shelter on their own, and consider the neighborhood to be 'home'. These cats may have been former house cats (pets) or may have been born to former house cats or other feral cats. Hopefully publication will follow soon, and it could well have far-reaching consequences, beyond the borders of Israel, on the question of dealing with free-roaming cats.Feral cats are cats that are unsocialized and avoid human contact because they have never had human contact, or over time have lost contact with people. Since the disagreement was unbridgeable, the editors at PNAS sent the article to a fourth academic, who gave a favorable opinion about publishing it.

Both of them, Gunther and Klement claim, were straightforward and academic when making their initial remarks, but during the next round offered non-scholarly and baseless arguments. In fact, three persons commented on the article during the first round of review, and two had reservations about its publication: One apparently had an ecological/environmental agenda, basically claiming that free-roaming cats should be kicked off the streets even if they have to be put down (this practice is illegal in Israel since the Supreme Court rendered a decision on the issue in 1999, whereby only ill or dangerous cats can be euthanized) the other reader appeared to have been a “cat lover,” believing in the virtues of TNR.

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