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Throughout the city and suburbs, tens of thousands of cats are facing another cold, hard winter on the streets.

The wild cats suffer hunger and disease, get attacked by dogs and are run over by cars. And they can be a nuisance to humans. So it has long been the policy of animal control departments to trap feral cats and put them to sleep.

But in recent months, local cat lovers have begun practicing a controversial alternative. Volunteers trap feral cats and take them to veterinarians to be sterilized and vaccinated. Then they release the cats back to the streets.

It's called trap-neuter-return, or TNR. It began on the East and West coasts and is spreading inland. The Chicagoland Stray Cat Coalition now counts about 15 local TNR groups, such as Spay and Stay in Lake County and Feral Cat Action Team in Du Page County.

Feral cats "have a right to live out their lives," said coalition co-founder Meg Martino, who has trapped, neutered and returned about 200 feral cats.

But critics say TNR usually condemns cats to slow deaths on the streets.

"It is heartbreaking that sometimes euthanasia is the answer for them," said Daphna Machminovitch of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

A pet cat that has been abandoned or has wandered off becomes a stray. If picked up in time, a stray usually can adjust to humans again. But if left outside long enough, a stray reverts to a wild state. Corner a feral cat, and it will hunch its back, hiss, spit, scratch, bite and growl. It fears humans, can't be tamed and generally stays out of sight during daylight hours.

Feral cats seek shelter under decks, porches and car hoods and congregate around trash containers, alleys and trailer parks. While they seldom are dangerous to people, they tend to make noise, defecate in yards, trample flowers and leave paw prints on cars.

Although estimates vary, there may be more than 70 million feral cats, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Animal control departments generally don't have the manpower to trap them, except when people complain. Because feral cats can't be adopted, animal control departments put them to sleep.

It's illegal to return cats to the streets, said Cook County animal control administrator Dan Parmer. The county's animal control ordinance states that no one shall allow an animal to "run uncontrolled."

# posted by Medical Information : 4:40 AM