Abstract:
Globally, unowned urban cats are a major concern because they may suffer from poor welfare and cause problems, including public health risks, nuisances, and urban wildlife predation. While management options are often presented as a choice between culling or trap−neuter−return (TNR), for 25 years, the Lonely Miaow (Inc.) charity in Auckland, New Zealand (hereafter LM), has used a third strategy—intensive adoption or trap−assess−resolve (TAR). As of 2019, of 14,611 unowned cats trapped, 64.2% were adopted, 22.2% were euthanized if unsocialised or in grave ill-health, 5.7% were neutered and returned to the site, and 7.9% had other outcomes, such as being transferred to other shelters. Adoption rates increased over this time, exceeding 80.0% in 2018 and 2019. The cost of processing each cat from capture to adoption rose from NZD 58 in 1999 to NZD 234 by 2017. Approximately 80% of colonies (sites where cats were trapped) were around residential areas. Approximately 22% of cats required veterinary treatment after capture; common ailments included respiratory infections, ringworm, dental problems, and trauma. Consistently, 52% of cats were young kittens (<10 weeks old), c. 80% of cats were <1 year old, and only c. 2% were estimated to be >5 years old. TAR avoids euthanasia where possible. Its effectiveness would be enhanced by fewer abandonments of owned cats and kittens, fitting within integrated strategies for the control of unowned cats involving community education. Cat adoptions improve the welfare of cats and, with appropriate husbandry, should alleviate concerns about nuisances, public health, and attacks on wildlife or the cats themselves, essentially benefitting the community and the cats. This case study is relevant to other cities around the world that are seeking to manage unowned cats.
摘要:
全球范围内,无主的城市猫是一个主要问题,因为它们可能遭受福利差的困扰并引起问题,包括公共卫生风险,滋扰,和城市野生动物捕食。虽然管理选项通常是在剔除或陷阱-中性-回报(TNR)之间进行选择,25年来,孤独苗夫(公司。)奥克兰的慈善机构,新西兰(以下简称LM),使用了第三种战略密集型采用或陷阱评估解决方案(TAR)。截至2019年,在被困的14611只无主猫中,64.2%被采纳,22.2%的人在不社会化或严重健康状况不佳的情况下被安乐死,5.7%被绝育并返回现场,7.9%有其他结果,例如被转移到其他避难所。采用率在这段时间里增加了,2018年和2019年超过80.0%。处理每只猫从捕获到收养的成本从1999年的58NZD上升到2017年的234NZD。大约80%的殖民地(猫被困的地点)在居民区周围。大约22%的猫在捕获后需要兽医治疗;常见疾病包括呼吸道感染,癣,牙齿问题,和创伤。始终如一,52%的猫是小猫(10周大),c。80%的猫是一岁,只有c。2%的人估计是5岁。TAR尽可能避免安乐死。它的有效性将通过减少对拥有的猫和小猫的遗弃而得到提高,适合控制涉及社区教育的非自有猫的综合策略。猫收养改善了猫的福利,在适当的饲养下,应该减轻对滋扰的担忧,公共卫生,对野生动物或猫本身的攻击,基本上有利于社区和猫。这个案例研究与世界上其他寻求管理无主猫的城市有关。