“There may be no other solution. It may be an unsolvable problem,” he said. “The problem is like a big rock (you have) to push up a steep mountain,” said Munday, who works in home renovation and rehabilitation, and for 17 years has been the caretaker of six wild cat colonies in east Dayton and the south suburbs. “It can be done, but you’ll have to change people’s attitudes.”
The scope
Research by the American Veterinary Medical Association estimates there likely are 150,000 cats in Montgomery County. Of those, a minimum of 68,000 are household pets.
The remainder — whatever that number — are classified as community cats. Some may be outside pets who roam at will but return home at sunrise. Others may be abandoned pets, who have established a regular rotation of kindly souls who leave out a bowl of kibble. The smallest number are feral — cats who have little or no human companionship.
Mark Kumpf, director of the county’s resource center, estimated 85 percent of the household cats are spayed or neutered — unable to reproduce. Among community cats, the percentage is around 3 percent, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Those cats reproduce, sometimes at an alarming rate.
“No one is going to triumph over Mother Nature,” Kumpf said.
The nuisance
To a segment of society, free-roaming cats are at least a nuisance. They can turn flower beds into bathrooms and garbage cans into cafeterias. They prey on wildlife and harass pets.
To others, they are a colorful part of the neighborhood that needs assistance.
“I can see both sides,” said Smith. “I can understand how people can see them as a menace.”
What Smith can’t see are the actions some will take to rid themselves of the menace. “I once had a cat that I let out at night to cat around. He was poisoned. Someone put out a bowl of antifreeze.”
Munday, the caretaker, said he had a whole colony poisoned in a similar manner.
To both, these were ugly, inhumane deaths.
Trap and euthanize
Englewood is one of nine Montgomery County communities that contracted with the resource center last year to take in the stray cats. The city provides a cage trap to homeowners and transports the cat to the center. The cat is scanned for a microchip that can identify the owner. If it has no owner and is not adopted, the cat is euthanized within several days. Kumpf said of the 2,996 cats brought to the center last year, 394 were adopted or transferred to other groups for adoption.
Last year, the city sent about 100 cats to the center at a cost of $47.50 a cat. This year, the center is charging $60 a cat.
“That adds up to real money,” Smith said. And it may not be solving the problem.
“Population,” said Brian Weltge, executive director of the Humane Society of Greater Dayton, “will always come to equilibrium to the food source.” The more cats you remove from the streets, the faster the remaining population will reproduce, as long as there is sufficient food.
Trap, neuter, return
Weltge believes trap-neuter-release is more effective than trapping and euthanizing feral cats. Of the six colonies that Munday oversees, four are stabilized — the population remains stable because the cats are all unable to reproduce. “Once stabilized, the colony will not let an outsider in unless there is a death.”
Munday spends $100 to $110 a week out of his pocket on cat food for the 40 to 48 cats he feeds in the six colonies. Besides the cost, it is labor-intensive to trap and feed the animals. “It’s difficult to verbalize. I guess I feel if you didn’t take the time, their lives would be even more miserable,” he said. “I make just a tenny-tiny difference.”
Weltge would like to see more people making a tenny-tiny difference. “The real answer, in my opinion, is an extensive trap-neuter-release program that targets all outdoor cats.”
Show me the money
Whatever the solution, it will cost. Unlike dogs, there is no revenue source for the care of cats. Dog licenses brought in around $1.2 million for the county resource center, the majority of the center’s funding. All that money, under state law, must be used for dog care.
There is no state law that allows localities to issue cat licenses. “Such legislation has not had much traction over the past decade,” Kumpf said. “It would be a significant revenue source.”
“What triggers the attention,” said Englewood’s Smith, “is when the price goes up to $60 to remove a cat. That adds up. The other side is we can’t inhumanely dispose of cats. It’s a moral issue.”
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