LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council is set to vote today on a resolution supporting a trapping, neutering and return method of controlling the island’s feral cat population. But the TNR plan — considered the more humane way of dealing
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council is set to vote today on a resolution supporting a trapping, neutering and return method of controlling the island’s feral cat population.
But the TNR plan — considered the more humane way of dealing with the homeless cat problem — may not mitigate threats to Kaua‘i’s endangered species, such as the Hawaiian monk seal.
“It started out to be, I thought, something relatively minor, but I know several of the council members have some serious concerns,” said Councilman Mel Rapozo, who introduced Resolution 2011-51 as an alternative to euthanization.
TNR, reportedly a wide-spread practice in the U.S., is experiencing a growing opposition.
“The University of Hawai‘i is overrun by feral house cats — more than one per acre,” states an article published in the September 2009 edition of Audubon Magazine. The cats are fed by staff and students, who get them spayed or neutered, then release them. The UH Manoa colony has about 400 cats.
“The idea is that the colony will eventually die out without individuals being subjected to the perceived fate of euthanasia,” states author Ted Williams, adding that TNR is “all the rage across the United States. And it doesn’t work.”
On O‘ahu it’s estimated that there are at least 100,000 feral cats. Before there can be a population decline, 71 to 94 percent of a colony needs to be sterilized, according to the article.
Environmental price
In a written statement to the council, Kaua‘i Humane Society interim Executive Director Orianna Skomoroch said it costs KHS approximately $65 to spay or neuter a cat. This is compared to roughly $79 per cat euthanization.
But the environment may pay a higher price if the cat colonies are allowed to slowly fizzle out under the TNR method.
The Environmental Health News website published an article on Dec. 7, 2010, in which author Teresa Dawson quotes scientist Charles Littnan as being very concerned with endangered Hawaiian monks seals getting sick with toxoplasmosis, a disease transmitted primarily through cat feces and carried to the ocean in runoff and sewage.
Littnan is the lead scientist for the Hawaiian monk seal research program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In 2010 two monk seals died apparently from being infected with the parasite Toxoplasmosa gondii. One was a still-born pup found in January in a tide pool on Moloka‘i. The other was a 10-year-old male found dead later that year on a beach near Kapa‘a, according to the article.
Experts estimate that over the past 10 years, the cat parasite has killed at least four monk seals in the Main Hawaiian Islands — two from Kaua‘i, one from O‘ahu, and one from Moloka‘i, the article states, adding that the number could be as high as six.
Furthermore, Littnan is quoted as saying the number of deaths should be considered an “absolute minimum” because there are dead seals unaccounted for.
“We are only just beginning to understand the prevalence of the disease in the population and determine ways to mitigate the impact,” Littnan said in the article.
KHS supports TNR
Skomoroch said in her testimony that upon reviewing the resolution, the society would like to add the word “management” to the TNR program.
“The society’s position is one of support as it relates to responsible trap, neuter, return and management as a method to control feral cats,” she said.
TNRM, Skomoroch said in the testimony, can be an effective strategy when responsible cat-colony caretakers maintain their colonies by following several steps, including ensuring a safe environment, locating colonies away from protected species, sterilizing all colony members, keeping records, providing veterinarian care, and other measures to keep the cats healthy and to avoid the colony becoming a nuisance.
KHS in its last annual report stated that between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010 it received 3,564 cats. KHS reunited 193 cats with their owners, and placed another 487 in permanent homes. But 2,779 cats were euthanized at the Puhi facility. Those numbers translate to 7.6 cats euthanized each day, seven days a week.
KHS said in the testimony that it has assisted group or individual caretakers of 12 feral cat colonies, located in the Walmart and Safeway parking lots, Sun Village senior housing, Salt Pond, Lawa‘i and Lihu‘e post offices, Lydgate Park, Kaua‘i Beach Villas, PMRF, Larsen’s and Kealia beaches and at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort.
Approximately half of the colonies, Skomoroch said, are supported by Kaua‘i Feral, “a concerned and pro-active group of people who are dedicated to paring down the number of feral and homeless cats on our island through trap, neuter and return programs,” according to its website.
Parasite science
not definitive
The Science Daily website, in an article published June 5, 2008, states that the Center for Disease Control estimates that 20 percent of the U.S. population carries Toxoplasmosa gondii, but the only known reservoir of the infectious form of the parasite (the oocyst) are cats.
“Over the past decade, toxoplasma infection has appeared in a variety of sea mammals including beluga whales, dolphins, sea lions and seals,” the article states, adding that 17 percent of sea otter deaths can be attributed to toxoplasma.
However, while many believe fresh water runoff contaminated with cat feces is the culprit, there is no “definitive science” on the source of the infection.
California Polytechnic State University graduate student Gloeta Massie and associate professor Michael Black have hypothesized that migratory filter feeder fish, such as northern anchovies, have been responsible to spread T. gondii throughout the oceans.
“The question that drives our research is how are marine mammals from the Arctic Circle to Australia infected by a parasite that is spread primarily through the consumption of infectious cat feces and infected meat?” Massie said in the article.
Massie and Black detected the parasite in 66 percent of the anchovies exposed to the parasite.
“Do our research findings mean that you should stop eating anchovy pizza? No. T. gondii oocysts are destroyed by high heat. Unfortunately, marine mammals do not have the option of cooking their food before they eat it. As anchovies are considered prey for practically every major predatory marine fish, mammal and bird, if the exposed anchovies harbor infectious oocysts, this could present a possible transmission path of T. gondii in the marine environment,” Massie said in the article.
The council meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. at the Nawiliwili Council Chambers, 3371-A Wilcox Road, Lihu‘e.
Go to www.kauai.gov to watch the meeting live online and for more information.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
