Feral friends or foes?

CRYSTAL LAKE - The cats have worn a delicate path from their woody home to the food bowls on the patio of Eva Uselding's house.

They will not come inside the house, though they are comfortable with climbing up into a carpet-covered plywood shelter near the back door.

The two cats, named Mama and B.J., have been spayed and neutered, respectively, and they are vaccinated, fed and sheltered. But they live outside, in the environment they know.

Uselding is a feral-cat colony caretaker who practices a technique called trap-neuter-release. With help from a local cat shelter, she said she has learned to care for these cats using accepted guidelines.

Trap-neuter-release, or TNR, has sparked a controversy among McHenry County officials and among residents.

After long debate, the McHenry County Board of Health approved a 9-month pilot program in March.

An advisory committee is writing guidelines for the program, which still must be approved by the McHenry County Board. The committee will meet again at 7 p.m. Sept.10 to further discuss the guidelines.

Meanwhile, many McHenry County residents take care of feral cats under the radar of the law. Some animal shelters in the area help them.

McHenry County is not alone in its debate over what to do with feral cats. Cities as large as San Diego and places as small as towns in Jo Daviess County have practiced TNR because of feral-cat problems.

The method's detractors, say feral cats are a danger to public health and the environment, are as passionate as its supporters.

Spay and Stay - as in cats getting spayed or neutered and staying where they were before surgery - in Lake County is in the midst of a county-sanctioned pilot program.

There, the main source of free-roaming cats has been abandonment, Spay and Stay co-founders Rebecca Adler and Sandra Cooper said.

"We do see a problem. We're small, and we haven't advertised. But we get calls every day," Cooper said.

McHenry County animal advocates estimate that there are as many as 40,000 feral cats in the county , the vast majority of them never seen because they avoid people.

Adler and Cooper emphasize that TNR is just one part of a comprehensive effort to reduce animal overpopulation.

"We have to educate about spaying and neutering every domestic animal. This is a grander effort that needs to be undertaken by humane shelters, communities, veterinarians and police departments," Cooper said.

If McHenry County's pilot program is approved, colony caretakers like Uselding would have a lot of responsibilities. Caretakers would be required to feed the cats, give them medical care and shelter, and ensure that no new unneutered cats join the colony. They also would keep a rolling log of information about the cats and their behavior.

"Most people who care for these cats are very attached to these cats. Once they've been neutered, they get as much human contact as they desire," said Margaret Slater, associate professor of epidemiology in the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Public Health at Texas A&M University.

Some caretakers in McHenry County have constructed heated beds, insulated shelters and have heated bowls outside in the winter so water does not freeze.

"They are managed the best way they can be managed," said Angel Albers, who heads the feral-cat program at Animal Outreach Society. "We check on colonies and ask how things are going."

Slater and other researchers have been running a TNR program on the Texas A&M campus for 4 1/2 years. About 200 cats have been fixed and returned, and no kittens have been born, she said.

Release versus euthanasia

Currently, if someone complains to Animal Control about a yowling or trespassing feral cat, the cat will be trapped and euthanized by the county, at a cost of about $60 per cat.

Last year, 123 feral cats were euthanized at Animal Control. The number of feral cats has grown steadily at least since 1999, though the overall number of euthanasias has declined.

Advocates of TNR say it is a more effective, less expensive way to eradicate feral cats. Some research suggests that when a cat is removed from a colony, another cat will enter to take its place.

The cats are supposed to die off naturally in their colonies. But people who oppose TNR say feral cats are struck by cars, die of disease or suffer in extreme temperatures.

Advocates say TNR stops feral-cat growth at its source, but detractors say it ignores the problem and is inhumane.

Joe Wheeler, a board of health member with a background in biology, said TNR goes against the scientific tenets he knows.

To begin with, Wheeler said, people should not care for wild animals that could give humans illnesses such as rabies, cat-scratch fever, conjunctivitis, or a bacterial infection through a bite.

Also, feral cats are misfits in the local ecology.

"We have a rapidly changing environment in McHenry County. We've got a rural environment transitioning into an urban environment. With that come changes in the ecosystem. It requires man to manage those things," Wheeler said. "These cats have no place. They've never been a part of the ecosystem. And ultimately, they are a danger."

Daphna Nachminovitch, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said euthanasia is not the worst thing that can happen to feral cats if they are not being properly managed.

"Spaying and neutering doesn't really prevent them from being hit by a car, suffering from (feline immunodeficiency virus) or feline leukemia," Nachminovitch said.

PETA also acknowledges that feral cats kill native animal and plant species for sport and food.

Wheeler said he would support local government programs that focus on pet-owner accountability.

Members of a local Audubon birdwatching group expressed the same fears about songbirds to the McHenry County advisory committee in July.

"It's not the ideal solution, but it is the best one that we have," said Sherrie Travis, of Downers Grove-based People and Animals in Community Together.

Her group sterilized 70 cats in its first summer. They did 200 in the summer of 2001. At neither event could the veterinarian get to all the animals signed up for surgery.

They also have hosted TNR educational workshops. Sometimes 25 people show up, among them exasperated police officers.

"It's so exciting for us to take it out in the open," Travis said.

Under the radar

Albers considers a colony of about 12 cats at a McHenry farm - one of the Animal Outreach Society program's success stories.

Cats that lived in a barn on the property often were joined by "dumped" cats - animals abandoned by their owners. At one point, 55 cats lived on the property.

"Neighbors were threatening to shoot the animals," Albers said. The cats wandered to neighbors' properties, where they yowled and marked territory.

It took seven months of weeding out adoptable cats, relocating some others and spaying or neutering all the remaining cats. But so far, no new cats have shown up. Thirty-three were adopted.

Animal Outreach Society hopes to soon establish a low-cost spay and neuter program for all pets. Colony caretakers receive vouchers for $25 neuterings at participating veterinarians' clinics. Animal Outreach Society pays the difference.

Other northern Illinois TNR programs, though, would just as soon remain under wraps and away from government involvement.

"We're not making a big noise about it. We're just trying to educate and do the best we can," said Linda Gleb, president of Community Animal Rescue Effort in Evanston. Gleb's group educates caretakers but does not run a full-fledged TNR program.

In Jo Daviess County, a program called Safe Haven also operates quietly.

"The county per se has no interest in it. We've been warned by other people not to get involved. They don't have an interest, and it's just going to make it bureaucratic," Safe Haven President Kay Day said.

Travis, with the Downers Grove group, said there has been some resistance from neighbors and municipal governments, but she will continue to advocate TNR.

"It is becoming more understood. Someday, TNR will be as well-known or established a term as AOL or NBC," Travis said. "It still takes me a lot of explaining to do."