My report on "The Economics of Animal Control" for Gary Michelson

I could post the report because I signed no confidentiality agreement or gag order. I won't because there was a mistake in the report. Gary Michelson asked me first to write a report of the effectiveness of spay neuter on pet overpopulation. I did that and gave it to him. Then he said he told me to write a report on all approaches to solving pet overpopulation using scientific research to support my findings. I quickly rewrote my report. FTR I took notes at the meeting. He originally only asked for spay neuter data.

Before I finished the report I said there was no independent scientific research on the effectiveness of TNR. All reports were merely anecdotal reports by the biased colony guardians with no verified statistics. There was no control group or research control of any type. I also said that their statistical assumptions are not valid and cannot be used. For instance they state two cats can make 200,000 more cats in seven years. This is not true. They assume all female cats have two litters of 6-8 kittens per year and every kitten and adult cat survives for seven years. That's impossible. They don't include a proper kitten and adult cat mortality rate, not all cats have 6-8 kittens...or many other factors.

TNR is trap neuter and return. The theory is if you trap, neuter then return feral cats to an outdoor feral cat colony, their population will go to zero within one generation or seven years. This of course only works in a vacuum. It does not work in the real world. The problem is you can't trap all animals. People will continue to dump animals. Most people don't even try to trap and neuter because they can only afford to feed. New cats move to the colony on their own for food. Generally the colony grows even though cats die from illness and injury. Plus, these cats do not lead a happy life as they don't get proper vet care, vaccinations... They generally do not lead a humane existence.

The wiki page has some independent research done by true researchers which support this. This research was not readily available when I wrote my report.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap-neuter-return

Even though I told Gary about this he is still supporting TNR. Don't get me wrong. I love cats and have cats, indoor cats. I believe cats should be indoors for their safety and the safety of native wildlife. I would prefer if cats were in enclosed sanctuaries. I realize this is not possible at this time. I'm not calling for people to kill outdoor cats or to ignore outdoor feral cats. Cat overpopulation is the biggest problem in pet overpopulation. This is why we really need a permanent chemical sterilization method. We can't surgically alter our way out of this situation because cats reproduce so quickly and plentifully.