Pinellas County: Should Stray Cats Continue Strutting?

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL —A public input meeting on managing feral cats scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 3, in Largo has been canceled due to potential severe weather from Hurricane Dorian.

Another meeting this week is expected to remain on schedule for Thursday, Sept. 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. at St. Petersburg College Tarpon Springs Campus, Room LY156, 600 E Klosterman Road, Tarpon Springs.

The meeting is part of a series focused on a proposed return-to-field program for feral cats brought into the animal shelter.

Under the proposed return-to-field program, strays brought into the animal shelter that are healthy but too feral for adoption would be sterilized, ear tipped, vaccinated and returned to their original location to live as community cats.

A healthy group of sterilized community cats will prevent unsterilized feral cats from moving into an area and reproducing, slowing the growth of the feral cat population.

These programs have been shown to decrease colony size through attrition, and even to eliminate colonies entirely in some cases. The programs can also decrease shelter intake in areas of high cat density when performed on a large enough scale and targeted in a specific population.

The program builds on the county’s current community cat policy, which allows residents to care for free-roaming cats that are sterilized, ear tipped and vaccinated.

Based on the county’s goals and residents’ feedback, the county’s current policy concerning outdoor pet cats will remain unchanged: pet cats are not allowed to live outside or roam freely.

National research has shown that only about 2 percent of community cats in the United States are spayed or neutered and these unsterilized cats account for about 80 percent of kittens born each year, making them the biggest source of cat overpopulation in the United States, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Residents who would like to learn more about the proposed return-to-field program are encouraged to attend the meeting.

Feedback may also be provided via a short online survey.