Trap-neuter-release programs: the reality and the impacts.

benefited from antilittering campaigns and actions. We must similarly seek to make it politically incorrect and socially unacceptable to engage in biological littering resulting from irresponsible cat ownership and promotion of TNR programs. Veterinarians, with help from organizations like The Wildlife Society and the American Bird Conservancy and its " Cats Indoors! " program, should join hands on a nationwide campaign to educate the public as to the importance of keeping their cats confined. Just as client education brochures inform on health-related issues, factual, objective information presented in a similar fashion can advise as to why cats should be confined for the sake of the cat, the environment, other animals, and the public. The " Cats Indoors! " concept should be promoted by professional veterinary organizations, in veterinary curricula, in elementary and high schools, in pet shops, among cat fanciers, and by humane groups. If a fraction of the millions of dollars being expended to neuter, reabandon, and feed cats was directed toward enhancing education and supporting more effective animal control ordinances and their enforcement, we would be much farther down the road toward effectively reducing the problem of free-roaming cats than we are today. A merican Bird Conservancy (ABC), conservationists, and wildlife biologists are often accused of making domestic cats (Felis catus) the scapegoat for bird population declines and ignoring the " real " causes of bird mortality, such as habitat loss and fragmentation, pesticides, pollution , window strikes, and collisions with communication towers. In fact, through the Bird Conservation Alliance, 1 ABC is working with a broad coalition of conservation groups as well as state and federal wildlife agencies in North, Central, and South America to address all issues related to bird mortality. However, as remaining wildlife habitat becomes fragmented and isolated by human development , domestic cat predation on native birds, especially rare and endangered species, has become an important factor in bird mortality that cannot be ignored. How many birds do pet, stray, and feral cats kill each year in the United States? Exact numbers are not