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   National Feral Cat DayBefriending the FriendlessIn communities and households across the country, people and organizations will be celebrating the 4th Annual National Feral Cat Day this Saturday, October 16.Many groups will hold fundraising parties, auctions or walkathons, while others will take their message to the public with staged events and press conferences. Untold numbers of feral caregivers will quietly celebrate the holiday by doing what they do every day of the year -- caring for their feral colonies. However it is celebrated, the main point of the day is to spread the message about feral cats, and to educate people about the trap/neuter/return (TNR) method of colony management. "Many people still don't even know there are feral cats. They know there are stray cats, but they don't know the difference between strays and ferals," says Becky Robinson, national director of Alley Cat Allies, the group that began National Feral Cat Day in 2001. "People need to know there is a difference, and learn that different things need to be done for them, because they both need help," she says. Toward that end, Alley Cat Allies has sent out 5,000 action packets for National Feral Cat Day, and keeps a registry of events scheduled around the country at www.nationalferalcatday.org. The organization will also be giving its annual Friends in the Field awards to individuals, groups, and veterinarians who have been instrumental in helping the cause. The education campaign is essential because even among animal lovers, there is still a lot of ignorance and misconception about feral cats, according to Robinson. People who mean to do the right thing may trap the cats and take them to a shelter, or simply inform their local animal control agency about ferals they sight -- not knowing that the most likely response will be to trap and immediately kill the cats. "People need to know that they can't depend on shelters and animal control to help these animals. People who love animals need to hook up and help each other so that these animals can be saved," Robinson says. "These animals don't have many friends, and the only people who can help are those who take the time to learn what to do." Well-meaning people may also try to trap adult feral cats and tame them, without realizing that this effort can be futile and even cruel. While feral kittens can often be socialized and adopted, Robinson says that taming most adult ferals is very difficult, and often unkind to the animal. "The challenge is that feral cats are like wild animals, and it is very difficult to tame them -- it may take months, if not years. It is not compassionate to force a wild animal to live around you; it can be very stressful and depressing for them," she says. Even if efforts to tame the cats are successful, Robinson says, the time and energy spent to tame one feral adult could have been used to help many more cats through TNR. Although grassroots involvement is still the key to helping ferals, Robinson says that some animal control agencies and local governments are starting to embrace TNR. "There are a few agencies that have completely changed and switched over to non-lethal control methods. Some are calling Alley Cat Allies for help, because they know that over the years they have implemented trapping and removing the cats, and they still have a problem, and have more animals coming in than ever before," she says. A number of major cities -- Seattle, Dallas, San Diego, New York and Orlando -- have switched over to using TNR programs.  More good news is that several recently published studies have shattered many of the harmful myths about feral cats -- demonstrating that the incidence of disease among feral cats is no greater than among owned cats; that feral cat caretakers are largely reliable and dedicated; that TNR is the only effective way to reduce feral cat populations in both the short and the long term; and that feral cats do not have any significant impact on wild bird populations.As people learn more about feral cats, more people are getting involved to help them. Alley Cat Allies fields 800 inquiries a month about TNR programs, and its Feral Friends Network now has more than 1,500 members around the world. "The real good news is that now, more than ever, people know about non-lethal control. More people are learning that they can, as individuals, do something to help cats, so a lot more cats are being saved, and a lot more are being cared for in managed colonies," Robinson says. Want to know more?Here are a few good resources about feral cats and TNR:
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