AY Honors/Cats - Advanced/Answer Key
A feral cat is a cat in a feral or wild state. Feral cats may live alone, but most are found in large groups called feral colonies with communal nurseries, depending on resource availability. Many abandoned pet cats join these colonies out of desperation. The average lifespan of a feral cat that survives beyond kittenhood is usually less than two years while a domestic housecat lives an average of sixteen years or more. More information on the generally harsh short life of a feral cat can be found on your local SPCA website, a society devoted to caring for animals and found in virtually every corner of the world from America to Zimbabwe.
In the United States
Cityscapes and North America are not native environments to the cat; the domestic cat comes from temperate climates and was distributed throughout the world by humans. Although cats are somewhat adaptable, feral felines are unable to thrive in extreme cold and heat, and with a protein requirement of about 90%, few cats find adequate nutrition on their own. In addition, they have no defense or understanding of such predators as dogs, coyotes and even automobiles.
However, throughout the United States, there are thousands of volunteers and organizations that trap these unadoptable feral felines, spay or neuter them, inoculate the cats against rabies and feline leukemia and treat them with long-lasting flea products. Before release back into their feral colonies, the attending veterinarian nips the tip off one ear to mark the feral as spayed/neutered and inoculated, as these cats will more than likely find themselves trapped again.
Volunteers continue to feed and give care to these cats throughout their lives, and not only is their lifespan greatly increased, behavior and nuisance problems due to competition for food are greatly reduced. In time, if the entire colony is successfully spayed and neutered, no additional kittens are born and the feral colony disappears.
In Australia
Feral cats have been present in Australia since European settlement, and may have arrived with Dutch shipwrecks in the 17th century. Intentional releases were made in the late 19th century in the hope that cats would control mice, rabbits and rats.
The feral cat has been an ecological disaster in Australia, inhabiting most ecosystems except dense rainforest, and sadly being implicated in the extinction of several marsupial and bird species. Control programs are difficult to devise due to the nocturnal and solitary nature of the cat, broad distribution in the landscape and continuous additions to the population from abandoned domestic cats. Eradication is not considered feasible nor humane.
In Rome
Rome, Italy is perhaps the place with most feral cats, the total number being estimated between 250,000 and 350,000, organized in about 2,000 colonies, some of them living in famous ancient places such as the Colosseum.
