Let me start by
saying I have a lot of admiration and respect for all those people who help and
look after animals - it couldn't be any other way. But I also need to
point out that stray cats have become a global problem. I don't know of a single place,
city or district in which colonies of stray cats have not multiplied
exponentially, causing serious problems amongst neighbours, the main reason
being the multiplication of cats due to the fact that they are being fed
indiscriminately. Food of all kinds is being left out just anywhere and in
places were children could access it and without thinking it could attract rats
and other animal oportunists. All this has caused a conflict between neighbours
and “food providers”. The latter sometimes do not listen to reason and cause a
problem that did not exist before because they don't tackle the welfare of the
colony as a whole (vaccinations, treatments for worms and fleas, neutering to
prevent further breeding...).
The consequences
of the administration not stepping in and helping the affected neighbours means
that they are taking matters into their own hands, and doing illegal and
dangerous things such as putting poison down for these animals. There is no
question about the fact that something needs to be done, and we at animal
shelters are tired of constantly receiving calls, messages and emails asking us
the same thing: “could you come and collect the cats?” It's always the same
story. They started by feeding one cat, then another came along who was
pregnant and when the situation becomes unsustainable and they find themselves
with 50 cats then they call us and when we say no, the answer is always the
following: “What are you animal shelters there for then?”
This is a very
serious problem that will never be solved unless the administration provides
funding to deal with the issue. The solution is not to move the colonies but to
control them by neutering the animals, offering them health checks and giving
feeders accreditation ID cards.
So, I'd like to
tell neighbours to be careful with the measures they take, as they can be
dangerous, and to the cat lovers to carry on using their heart but to also use
their head. FJP.
