Feral cats

I have mentioned on another thread that a cat (with a collar on) has had 4 kittens and they were/are living in the lining of my patio sofa. After a lot of emails going back and forward I have received an email from Mileniun that looks like it has been circulated to owners stating that the cat/animal catcher will be on site next week and any animal found wondering about unsupervised will be in danger of being taken away. Any pet owner on site that allows their pet to roam free and especially cat owners, take heed as you will lose your pet. The one that has bred in my garden is obviously someones pet as it has a collar on and left to their own devices cats can breed like rabbits and before you know it we will be overrun by them.

Dakey

I adore cats, I really do but I wouldnt have one here! We have waited 14 months to see a lizard/ ghekko on CDA and we now have Albert who visits us daily. I am seriously concerned with the feral cats in N7 and 1 of the Jardines...12 maybe...will check.

The Murcian government has brought in a law that all cats, dogs and ferets must be vaccinated against rabies...I believe chipping and vaccination costs 50 Euro. I had intended to contact Ayuntamiento about our cat problem but will watch with interest to see what happens next week.

My concern is the safety and welfare of my children and the other children who may try to stroke these cats and get scratched or bitten. As I type I have reiterated a warning to my 2 about all cats and dogs!

2LT,

My apartment is on J12 and that is where the cat/kittens are/were. My keyholder informs me that they have not been seen for a few days, so maybe he catcher has started his work already.

Dakey

Can we talk about football on this thread?

 Course we can, coz i bet you 2 are having kittens about the new season 

Quite right Kev,

I have moved the cat issue to another new thread, but at least we now know that Dave (shampers) is still in the land of the living.....which is more than I can say about my old mate Dave Roy (city dave) who has vanished off the face of the earth!

Dakey

Ignore the ramblings of my last post as in my drunken state I thought I was on the football thread. I am too old to quaff alcohol in the quantities that I have just attempted.

Dakey

An owner has been into the office and Mileniun have confirmed that ANY cat caught in the traps, even it has a collar and is obviously a pet, will be taken away and put down. When quizzed on this they told the owner that the rules state that all pets should be on leads!!!!!! In fact this only applies to dogs not cat, The mind boggles.

For those interested the rules on pets state ;-

 

So, cat owners keep your pets in and find the location of the traps and check quick if your pet goes missing. Why on earth did our presidents approve this action?

Phil,

It says exaxtly what it says at the end of the rules you posted so it is not like the owners have not been warned Like many no doubt either don't read the rules, think it doesn't apply to them or that ML are just blowing hot air?

Look after your pets or have the resort smelling like a toilet with the spraying/territory marking that especially these cats do or the poo smell that comes with the breeze

These people who do not pick up after their muts surely would be up in arms if my kids left a deposit on their front lawn or communal area so why do they allow their dogs to do it to everyone else? (FYI - I used to own two GSD's & always picked up after them so I am not an anti-dog person)

 

SD

Is this service being paid for by your community or is it a service your town council provides? I would also be concerned as to how the cats are being put down, as trying to find a vet that will put a healthy cat down is nearly impossible.

On Mar Menor Golf we had a major feral cat problem many years ago. Our community decided the most cost effective way to deal with feral cats was to catch, neuter and release in the area they were caught in. Our feral cats are pretty much under control now. The population is now pretty constant. Removing the cats completely just leaves an area for more cats to take over, and so you are back to square one with another group of cats that need catching and put down.

 Suntanneddude,

We are talking about cats being trapped and put down here not about dog owners that do not clear up after them , the last section talks about imposing "appropriate sanctions".  Do you realy believe that collecting cats and putting them down, even if they have collars on, is appropriate?  

As Chris has said implimentig a neutering, as Mar Menor and La Torre do, would be a far better solution.  I don't have cats but many owners do and I'm sure they will be very upset if they go missing next week. 

I am sorry but with the recent laws that cats and dogs must be vaccinated against rabies....feral cats must be put dowm!

Why should we as a community spend 50 Euro per cat to chip it and vaccinate it. Then every year after these cats must be vaccinated again!!

Out of all the cat owners that I know in Condado I know only one responsible one ( thats only the ones I know) I know another who's cat has had kittens and she has dumped the cat and kittens to run free in J12! Rumour has it in previous years in another garden an owner has been dumping her newborn kittens in the kitchen waste bin!!!

If cats have collars on and are owned by responsible owners they must be chipped and vaccinated! I assume when caught these cats can be returned to their owner. Pehaps the less reponsible owners would fork out and get their cats neutered, vaccinated and chipped!!!

I have 2 young daughters who are cat mad and I am not willing to risk their health or even lives with these feral cats. There is no need for feral cats.

I adore cats but the natural wildlife ( limited as it is in Condado) is far more important.

I know it is a hassle but perhaps responsible owners could keep their cats in Monday to Friday until the feral cats are caught.

Don't people pose more of a problem than a few cats? Why not go round killing people who break the rules? Yes it was a deliberately provocative statement, but what right was anyone to kill a living, sentient creature just because it is a bit of a nuicence?

It wasn't cats or dogs crapping in the pools last year,neither do they run round shouting and screaming all day and half the night.

Get things in perspective. They could be captured, neutered and released instead of murdered. Milenium and the level 1 and 2 presidents have gone too far and have become petty dictators.

I call on anyone who cares to try and stop this process, set off traps, free cats, whatever you can do and if you are against it, let these puppet presidents know how you feel.

As i posted earler, you will never be able to get rid of all feral cats. Once you have removed them from your resort feral cats from the campo will move in and you are back setting traps for the removal of the next lot of cats. When we take feral cats to be neutered they are given a health check and any that have diseases (especially feline aids)  are then put down. 

I have sent an email to the Guardia Civil's Seprona and will try and phone them on Monday.

Mel, sorry ..suspect we may never agree on this!

Firstly, who pays for the neutering and rabies vaccinations...are you volunteering?? believe its 50 Euro per cat...last time I was in N7 I saw at least 8 cats running wild.

This country is over-run with stray dogs and cats. I love cats, if I could have a house cat here which would lie on my bed/ sofa and never ever kill Freddie my frog who lives in a hole at the front of my house or Albert my ghekko...then I would have one tomorrow.

But there are so many irresponsible people who have cats and dont get them chipped or vaccinated and when they have kittens every year do one of 3 things..dump them at the vets in Camposol ( the kindest option but the vet isnt too happy, shame they dont get their cat done when they are there), option 2 dump them when born into the kitchen waste bins in Condado ( if I could catch the said owner at this I would push the owner in after them) or option 3 let them go wild in J12 as some poor sucker of a British person will adopt or feed them!

I'm sorry Mel but I want rid of the feral cats. The Murcian government has given cat owners till the end of August to vaccinate against rabies so our feral cats will have to be gotten rid of!!

I totally agree there are irresponsible owners and that there are too many strays. There are also too many human beings who are ravishing and destroying the environment but they aren't culled (Unless you consider illegal and irresponsible wars a kind of human cull).

The animals don't have a voice and can't defend themselves but are a product of human irresponsibility. Force pet owners that want to allow their pets to roam to get them neutered, make them pay for the neutering.

My dogs are all vaccinated against rabies, that is the law. Feral animals could be vaccinated too. Other PW resorts neuter the feral cats. Even if all the feralcats are killed next week, it won't stop others arriving.

I'm sorry but I hold every life is sacred, human and animal with one not being above the other. People were responsible so the animal has to die doesn't sit right. Fine the owners by all means capture and find homes for the cats, (I know that doesn't happen). I'm certainly against killing an animal just because someones expensive cushion was chosen by a cat to give birth. If they are so expensive,bring them in when you aren't using them. 

But Mel, I dont think the cat had kittens there!!! I think the mother cat and kittens were dumped when they became too expensive to feed. If its the kittens Im thinking of the owner was originally going to dump them outside Camposol but obviously decided to save some fuel. I apreciate what you are saying about life being precious....but my children's lives are more precious and if these feral cats catch rabies they are a danger to all.

What about the lives of the wildlife that these cats are killing...do they not matter....In 15 months I have seen just one ghekko in Condado....

I love cats, I will bore you sometime with pictures of cats I have had in past but feral cats have to be sorted.....sorry again!

If a gheko is a small pale lizard, I've seen a couple on the wasteland where we take the dogs.

Probably the kitten tale has suffered from chinese whispers.

The rabies scare is probably blown up out of all proportion. These things usually are but I appreciate your concern, especially when you have children.

As for the wildlife the cats are killing, that is nature. They have to eatand if people don't feed them, they have no choice. I'd have to try and shoot a rabbit if all the supermarkets emptied out after some kind of disaster and there was no food anywhere.

I'm looking at this from a more spiritual perspective which I don't expect people to understand.

We must agree to disagree I suppose. 

Mel, I am an exceedingly spiritual person....but cats don't always kill to eat....I disagree that it is naure! To me nature is when a snake kills a mouse or a lizard...but the cats have been introduced by us humans....then when the kittens come along they dump them....it is total irresponsibility by us humans. i am sorry but I believe this prolem has to be npped in the bud and I am so sorry but I feel they should be humanely killed.....I don't see any other option.....

A rabies scare can't be blown out of proportion! Rabies has been found in Toledo and it is far too easily spread.....if these cats are not put down who is going to vaccinate them every year, they will also need chipped and neutered...probably no change from 150 Euro per cat....who is going to pay that???