North Brunswick right to get rid of feral cats

Six months ago, North Brunswick officials cut a deal to allow an animal-welfare group to care for and maintain a feral cat colony behind the Ramada Inn on Route 1. The experiment was foolish from the start. Feral cats are a destructive force in nature and are a danger to people, especially through the spread of disease. Feral cats also live brutal lives. Even if the cats received the medical attention and food the needed, they should never have been left to roam.

Fortunately, they won't any longer.

Officials in North Brunswick decided last week to reverse their course. They've ordered the colony to be cleaned out come July.

It's about time.

Animal Lifesavers Pet Adoption Inc. of East Brunswick has been practicing what is known as trap, neuter and release. Cats are caught and given medical care, including vaccination and neutering. Then they are returned to their colonies, where they receive food and human-constructed shelter.

The problem is the cats remain a menace.

The group reasoned that just because the cats showed no signs of rabies or other feline diseases, everything was OK. But it isn't. Cats simply don't belong outdoors.

Let's grant the claim that the colony cats are free of disease. Fine. But that doesn't mean they can't bite or scratch. And it doesn't mean that other cats -- untested and unvaccinated -- won't be drawn to the food. The disease risk isn't really gone.

Taking the hazard one step further, free-roaming cats are an ecological disaster. The National Audubon Society estimates outdoor cats are responsible for the death of millions of birds and possibly billions of small mammals every year; studies show cats have contributed to widespread declines in the populations of certain warbler species and other songbirds -- some of them endangered.

It doesn't take a food-chain scientist to figure out that song birds are part of the menu for other animals. Declines in species of hawks, falcons, snakes and larger predatory mammals may also be linked to the spread of feral cats.

Finally, wild strays live, on average, less than five years, whereas indoor cats often live to 17 or more years of age. Allowing cats to live outdoors enables territorial fights and death by automobile and disease.

In short, it is cruel.

No one argues animal welfare isn't a worthy cause, but human health and environmental integrity should be higher concerns. North Brunswick's new policy makes that so. As such, it's the right decision.