They named her "Frosty" because she had been found nearly frozen to death in a Wisconsin barn, barely conscious, piteously mewing a "death cry," as her rescuers described it. With emergency care, oxygen and IV fluids, the emaciated 10-week-old "barn kitten" managed to survive pneumonia, diarrhea and frostbite on her ears and feet. Frosty will likely need specialized care for the rest of her life, but she is luckier than many cats who are left to take their chances in the outdoors.
Frosty could be a poster child for the deadly drawbacks of trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs that are being advocated by well-intentioned but woefully misguided people in Anchorage and across the country. She belies TNR advocates' bland assurances that feral cats will be "fine" after they've been abandoned outside to fend for themselves because they are "survivors."
They aren't all survivors. Earlier this year, an animal-control officer in Syracuse, N.Y., discovered the body of a stray cat who appeared to have frozen to death in midstride. In Minot, N.D., a feral cat had to be euthanized after having been found frozen to a rock. Apparently, she had fallen into a backyard pond.
"We need to educate people that just because these animals have fur coats does not make them immune to these cold dangerous temps we have been experiencing this winter. No animals should freeze to death," says Frosty's rescuer, Carol Infalt.
She's right -- feral cats shouldn't freeze to death. But they do, especially in areas with subarctic climates, like Anchorage. They also die of AIDS, leukemia, rabies and other deadly infectious diseases. They die after being attacked by dogs or wild predators or after being poisoned or shot by people who don't like them digging in their gardens. They die of starvation after being accidentally locked in garages, sheds and crawlspaces where they have sought shelter. They die of flea anemia and upper respiratory infections -- conditions that are easily treatable but potentially deadly to cats who can't be handled.
PETA's cruelty caseworkers encounter suffering outdoor cats year-round. Recent cases include feral cats in California with grotesquely disfiguring facial wounds and a colony of feral cats who were suffering from a wide range of injuries and illnesses, including missing eyes and mange so severe that they were nearly unrecognizable as cats.
Why would people who consider themselves to be "cat lovers" consign cats to such ghastly fates? Because they are in denial. They are kidding themselves about what actually happens when feral cats "disappear." They are abandoning cats to fend for themselves -- something we rightly prosecute people for if they are caught doing it to their own dogs or cats -- because it makes them feel better, not because it is the most humane option for the cats.
TNR advocates argue that "catch-and-kill" programs are cruel, but it is catch-and-release programs that cause pain and suffering. Euthanasia is painless. By contrast, suffering for weeks as cancer eats away at your ears -- as happened recently to one feral cat whose caretaker initially refused to trap the cat for fear that he would be euthanized -- is the exact opposite.
Those of us who care about cats have to be strong enough to do the right thing, even when it breaks our hearts. We must start addressing the problem at the roots, both by implementing mandatory spay-neuter legislation and by cracking down on people who abandon their cats.
Teresa Chagrin is an animal care and control specialist for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
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