It will be National feral Cat Day on October 16, 2016. It is celebrated every year on this date. It is organised by the well-known Alley Cat Allies.
The theme for the 2016 National Feral Cat Day is “All Cats All Communities”.
Alley cat Allies have a wonderful package of educational materials and goodies which are free to those registering on their website (as long as stocks last – so hurry). It is a very impressive package. In addition you can find out the events and actions taking place near you.
Every year more people and more organisations respond to the call to participate in National Feral Cat Day.
It was launched in 2001 to raise awareness about feral cats and to promote TNR (trap-neuter-release). It is also a way of getting people involved in respecting the feral cat who has lived alongside humans for around 10,000 years; as long as the cat has been domesticated.
In some communities, often in other countries, the feral cat is treated as a community cat and looked after by groups of people. In fact the feral cat is often, in these countries, treated as a semi-feral or semi-domesticated cat, a substitute if you like for a resident domestic cat.
I feel that it is essential that we respect feral cats. They exist because of the existence of the domestic cat. Fundamentally, we brought them into the world. They are connected to and part of the broad landscape of the domestic cat. They deserve as much respect as domestic cats receive and perhaps more because they should be domestic cats, not unwanted and distanced from human care.
That said there are many very generous, kindly people who look after feral cats across North America and who manage feral cat colonies while carrying out extensive trap-neuter-release programs.
My reading of the situation is that more and more local councils in America are agreeing to set up trap-neuter-release programs in cooperation with volunteers and sometimes part or wholly funding them.
Trap-neuter-return is the only humane and effective approach to caring for community cats while at the same time ensuring that the population is stable and eventually, over a long period of time, reduced.
In many cities in America community cats are often caught and taken to animal shelters or pounds where most of them are euthanised. We are told that almost a hundred percent of feral cats taken to animal shelters are killed.
This should motivate people to get involved with National Feral Cat Day and to work in cooperation with Alley Cat Allies who, as mentioned, provides a wonderful package of aids to further encourage people to join in this important day.
Please go to the National Feral Cat Day website to read more about this and to register.
National Feral Cat Day is a huge event here. I have participated forever.
Many people think that participation requires some sort of huge display. Not so. Any caretakers can post flyers/posters with their support message.
I do TNR poster and flyer displays, because it’s so important to educate. I, also, offer my services for speaking about ferals.
It’s an exciting time for me.
You are a heroine, Dee. You have done so much good for feral cats. You have a place in heaven 🙂 I don’t know of a similar event in the UK. That’s probably because we never see feral cats! Although the “experts” say we have 7 million!
7 million ferals is really pretty modest, Michael.
But, I hope that TNR will be instituted.
I just don’t think that we have as many feral cats as people say we have. It’s an estimate based upon the American situation probably in that people say that there is an equal number of feral and domestic cats therefore they estimate the feral cat numbers.
I think the reason why there are relatively so few feral cats in the UK is because of the weather!
It’s just too hostile outside 😉
We do do TNR in this country. It’s just that it is not as necessary because we don’t see feral cats so there is no pressure on communities and authorities to “deal with them”.