Cayman’s animal charities say new regulations banning the release of stray animals after they have been captured for spaying or neutering purposes will lead to an explosion in the feral cat population in Grand Cayman.
Charities such as the Humane Society, Feline Friends and the Cayman Animal Rescue Enthusiasts, known as CARE, have been spaying and neutering feral and stray animals for years. The National Conservation (Alien Species) Regulations 2022 now make it an offence to release these animals into the wild, as well as to feed them.
The Humane Society’s operations manager, Samantha Cooper, told the Compass, “The new regulations ban Trap Neuter Release, which we believe is an essential tool to help control the cat population in the Cayman Islands. As you know, the DoE have been trapping cats in Little Cayman and are about to do so in the Bluff in Cayman Brac. They do not appear to have any plans for controlling the population of cats in Grand Cayman and, without a Trap Neuter Release programme, the population will definitely expand, even once the ban on feeding feral cats and dogs comes into effect in February.”
She added, “This could leave Grand Cayman overrun with feral cats, undoing all the hard work of the Humane Society and Feline Friends. It isn’t a good situation for the cats whose welfare is not met living on the streets, and it won’t reduce the pressure on Cayman’s native wildlife.”
Under the new regulations, it remains legal to spay or neuter a feral animal. However, releasing the animal after the procedure would be illegal.
The Department of Environment and the National Conservation Council argue in a frequently asked question section relating to the new regulations that ‘Trap Neuter Release’ programmes simply do not work as an effective means of controlling a feral animal population.
They say, “Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) has been extensively studied in relation to feral cat control. Although it may seem like a positive solution for addressing cat overpopulation, the scientific literature is clear that it does not work in practice as a tool to reduce feral cat populations except under highly restricted circumstances. Once trapped and neutered, TNR cats are returned to the wild where they continue to hunt and destroy wildlife, catch and spread viral and parasitic disease, and typically live short, unhealthy lives.”
The DoE and the Department of Agriculture this week are beginning a cull of feral cats on the eastern part of the Bluff on Cayman Brac, in a bid to remove the animals, as well as rodents, that have been raiding the nests of endangered brown booby birds. A similar cull was carried out in Little Cayman last year, in response to the decimation of the population of young Sister Islands Rock Iguanas by feral cats on that island.
No plan for cull in Grand Cayman
A DoE spokesperson told the Compass in a statement that the department is not planning to cull stray cats in Grand Cayman.
“This control program on the Brac along with the island-wide Little Cayman program are the only ones currently planned by DoE as these islands are the most vulnerable in terms of wildlife loss and also the most manageable due to their size and lower residential populations,” the spokesperson said. “There are currently no plans for DoE-led control efforts in Grand Cayman.”
She added, “Should Government control measures be considered in Grand Cayman, they would likely begin in remote areas prompted by the wildlife populations in greatest need of protection, similarly to the Sister Islands, but currently all DoE’s efforts are focused on the Sister Islands. This does not rule out other persons or agencies carrying out their own control measures as it is legal for any person or business to trap a nuisance cat that is definitely feral and take it to a vet for humane euthanasia.”
The Humane Society and CARE said they had not been consulted on the regulations, which were released last month.
However, the Departments of Environment and Agriculture say they aim to “work constructively” with the animal charities and with veterinarians “to find mutually acceptable solutions which advance shared goals of preventing unnecessary animal suffering and promoting responsible pet ownership under local legislation”.
Charities have borne burden of population control
A statement from CARE noted that the new restrictions on feeding and sterilising stray animals will not reduce their numbers.
“CARE does not advocate that cats should be outside,” the charity noted in its statement. “The goal of any animal charity is to reduce the numbers of cats or dogs roaming freely. However, with no meaningful legislation passed over the past several decades in respect of animal laws, the numbers of feral cats have swelled significantly, with population control measures left wholly to the charities.
“Covid restrictions meant that vets were forbidden from performing spay and neuter surgeries, and these few months led to a significant growth in the visible feral cat population. Additionally, with so much land being cleared for development, the cats are being pushed into higher visibility areas.”
CARE pointed out that the charities that provide spay and neuter are overwhelmed, with private vets unable to accommodate the numbers of surgeries needed. “However, even with limited resources, we have already seen a significant decrease in the number of requests for cats to be fixed, indicating that the spay/neuter program is successful,” the statement noted.
CARE says it believes a well-supported spay and neuter programme, coupled with “reasonable and enforceable” legislation, would bring about a significant reduction in the feral cat population within three to five years. “Their numbers could then be easily managed with ongoing spay/neuter with a view to reducing the number of outdoor cats to zero,” the charity stated.
It added, “CARE believes that this is not something that can be resolved quickly without causing undue suffering.”
‘Tying our hands’
The Humane Society also raised concerns over the penalties associated with the new regulations.
Cooper said, “The potential punishments seem massively disproportionate to a crime of, for instance, neutering a street cat to prevent population growth. Under the National Conservation Law, a fine of five hundred thousand pounds or four years in prison or both could be applied.”
She added, “Banning the feeding of feral cats and dogs seems cruel if there isn’t going to be any population control, it seems like they will breed only to starve or hunt Cayman’s native wildlife. The government is tying our hands so that we cannot help with population control, but at least for Grand Cayman, they do not seem to have a plan of their own.”
She said it seems inevitable that there will eventually be a cull of feral cats on Grand Cayman, but “before that happens, I think we will see a much worse situation for the cats as the population is likely to grow quickly”.
Cooper added that her biggest worry “is not that we will see a cull like the one in Little Cayman but that the government will permit a cull along the lines of the Green Iguana cull in Grand Cayman”.
More than 1.3 million invasive green iguanas have been culled in Grand Cayman since the government launched a programme in 2018 that licensed and paid members of the public to hunt the animals.
CARE and the Humane Society, as well as the DoE and DoA, all appeal to dog and cat owners to keep them on their properties and not to let them roam, and to ensure they are microchipped and have a collar with identification tags.
