Caring for the homeless cat population in Los Angeles, FixNation , offers free spay and neuter services to caregivers of community cats. FixNation uses Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), which is a community-based program that involves trapping homeless, free-roaming cats, getting them spayed or neutered, and then returning the cats to the exact spot where they were trapped so they can live out the rest of their natural lives. MORE

Get your tailgating gear together, place your bets, and tune in to Big Cat Week on Nat Geo WILD to find out the answer to that question! During the 4th annual Big Cat Week viewers will be delighted and amazed by nature’s Biggest and Baddest Cats! There are also specials with entertainment’s Biggest names including NFL Superstars, the Best Big Cat Filmmakers in the World … oh, and there might also be a little bit of Betty White too! MORE

On 14 March, 2013, the Orlando Sentinel published an opinion piece by Ted Williams under the headline “Trap, neuter, return programs make feral-cat problem worse.” Then he gave a couple of alternative solutions to the feral cat problem: There are two effective, humane alternatives to the cat hell of TNR. One is Tylenol (the human pain medication) — a completely selective feral-cat poison. Check out the annual budget for Alley Cat Allies. MORE

There are now about 10 cats who are unsterilized, and next week the women at the site, with a little help from their friends, will start trapping again. It'll be my area's first group dedicated to reducing the feral cat population! Kudos to the cat people of North County who started this much-needed venture! Just in case you were wondering what an 85-lb red fawn greyhound looks like from the back with a couple dozen acupuncture needles in him. MORE

The other day, Minneapolis, Minnesota passed a feral cat ordinance. So I put together a “carnival” (of sorts) of Feral Cat Ordinances and Issues that samples current events across the US. From the Star Tribune : Feral cats win a round at Minneapolis City Hall. …a City Council committee voted 5-0 to recommend a new law that in essence licenses the care and feeding of free-roaming cats as part of a larger effort to reduce their numbers. MORE

For instance, assume (and I will NOT stand by this number, it is just one I’ve heard here and there) that kitty cats in America kill 50,000,000 birds a year. Hardly any Sandhill Cranes are killed by domestic (including ferrel domestic) cats. In fact, there are certainly a few cats killed by hawks every year. 2) In contrast, even a very large percentage may have very little evolutionary or adaptive effect if those killed are randomly selected from the population. MORE

The maximum population size may be closer to 20 billion in the fall, and 10 billion at the start of the Spring breeding season. In other words, looking at fledglings (or older) and not chicks, the US bird population normally doubles itself every year, but then get undoubled by … well, various factors probably mostly hypothermia, starvation, disease, and predation. How many birds to cats kill in the United States? Also, the comparison with cats is not particularly relevant. MORE

Mark Gamin, a Cleveland lawyer, likes cats and birds both. He likes books too, which made him the ideal reviewer for Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer. Marra and Chris Santella, authors of Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer (Princeton University Press, 212 pp., They argue for the elimination of free-range cats entirely. It’s not just the effect of cats on wildlife that should be alarming, “Cat Wars” says. MORE

Just as the ranger was telling us that we might see wild cats – well, not wild cats, but rather, Wildcats , the wild version of the domestic cat, Felis silvestris lybica , one of those cats popped its head out of the brush about 50 feet beyond her. The most interesting thing about this cat was lack of kitty-cat-ness. It was not a kitty cat, even though all of its relatives in the Americas were. I once knew a guy who kept and raised cats. MORE