Photo: Domestic Cat Killing Ruffed Grouse, Navvvrisk
Tom Blackburn
Fourteen members of a Virginia General Assembly workgroup appointed in 2021 to study problems associated with free-roaming cats have just released a comprehensive report detailing the negative impact of cats on wildlife and public health and recommending legislative solutions.
Among the major findings in a report from fourteen of nineteen workgroup members, including ASNV, is the determination that, by itself, the controversial practice of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) does not work for the reduction of free-roaming cat populations. The practice, in which cats are trapped, neutered, typically given a one-year rabies vaccination, and released back to the outdoors, is also ineffective at mitigating the risks posed by these cats to wildlife and public health. According to a report published in the journal Nature Communications and referenced in the report, 1.3 to 4 billion birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals are killed annually by cats in the U.S.
Domestic Cat Killing Ruffed Grouse, Navvvrisk
The workgroup was created at the request of then-Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, Delegate Ken Plum. The nineteen-member work group, composed of experts in wildlife conservation, veterinary medicine, public health and safety, agriculture, animal welfare, and animal law, was tasked with making recommendations for the reduction of the population of free-roaming cats in Virginia, and mitigating their impacts on wildlife, natural resources, public health and property. I participated as chair of ASNV’s Advocacy Committee. We deliberated for 18 months before fourteen members submitted their report to the General Assembly.
Among the findings in the meticulously-documented 28-page report are:
There are an estimated 2.1 million free-roaming cats in Virginia, of which 1.2 million are unowned.
These cats are one of the most serious threats to native wildlife in the Commonwealth.
Free-roaming cats are vulnerable to many hazards and have high mortality rates, especially for kittens, and often have a very poor quality of life.
Free-roaming cats present numerous risks to public health, including rabies, toxoplasmosis, and other diseases.
A comprehensive and multi-faceted population control strategy is required to produce results.
The unregulated feeding of outdoor cat colonies may exacerbate the negative impacts of free-roaming cats by concentrating cats and attracting wildlife.
The report relies on scientific findings from peer-reviewed publications in presenting recommendations for addressing risks and damage caused by the growing population of free-roaming cats in Virginia. Among these recommendations are:
Each locality must develop an outdoor cat management plan implementing state guidelines and regulations to reduce the population of free-roaming cats and mitigate their negative impacts.
There must be a local option for the removal of free-roaming cats where conflicts exist.
Public education is critical to eliminating the abandonment and unintended reproduction of cats.
Public education should emphasize the importance of keeping cats indoors or confined on the owner’s property to eliminate the impacts of free-roaming cats and to protect the cats themselves. The public also should be made aware of options for the placement of cats that need to be re-homed through shelters, pet adoption programs, and other alternatives to abandonment.
A statewide policy is needed concerning animal shelters and releasing agencies regarding the intake and acceptance of cats. While 56 localities in Virginia currently have ordinances regulating cats, many others have no regulation whatsoever.
Where TNR is included in the comprehensive strategy for the reduction of the free-roaming cat population, individual and organizational practitioners must be required to receive training in the various aspects of TNR and cat colony management and should be required to create and maintain complete records of their activities, including individual health records for every cat in a managed colony. These records must be available to animal control, public health, or other taxpayer-funded agencies as needed.
Release of cats and management of cat colonies should be prohibited in certain areas, including, including parks and other protected areas, near schools or daycare centers, and on land where the permission of the private or public landowner or property manager has not been secured.
The report also includes several recommendations regarding research that should be conducted in Virginia to assess the root causes of cat abandonment, as well as the effectiveness of various strategies and techniques for the reduction of free-roaming cat populations.
Members of the workgroup who released the report expect to work with legislators to develop legislation on free-roaming cats to be introduced in the 2024 session of the General Assembly. You can contact me if you have questions about the report.