Plans to re-establish the habitat for sea birds and other native species on San Nicholas Island should not require the hunting down and killing feral cats because a more humane alternative is available, according to a statement released today by Best Friends Animal Society.
An environmental assessment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service´s Office in Carlsbad, Calif., has called for eliminating the cats by capturing them with padded leg traps or tracking dogs, and then euthanizing them. But a June 16 letter to the service and the U.S. Navy from Best Friends Animal Society rejects euthanasia and suggests an alternative that calls for spaying, neutering and relocating the cats.
"Best Friends agrees that for the benefit of the cats as well as the endangered species, the feral cats should depart from the island, but we propose that they be allowed to live," said Gregory Castle, one of Best Friends Animal Society´s founders and an expert on feral cats. "Once they are humanely captured, they would be spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies and relocated to managed colonies on the mainland."
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