Over the weekend, a comment (criticizing, once again, the recently released University of Nebraska-Lincoln “report”) I posted on Audubon magazine’s blog, The Perch, drew fire from Travis Longcore.
Longcore, of course, is the lead author of the widely circulated paper, “Critical Assessment of Claims Regarding Management of Feral Cats by Trap-Neuter-Return” and Science Director for the Urban Wildlands Group, the lead plaintiff in the case that led to the TNR-related injunction in Los Angeles earlier this year (under which City-funded spay/neuter vouchers for feral cats and shelter-based TNR promotions have been halted; TNR, however, continues), a decision currently making its way through the appeal process (I heard just this afternoon that “Round 2” was decided in favor of the plaintiffs).
After a weekend of back-and-forth debate about the science surrounding the UNL report and, more broadly, feral cats and TNR, I posed the following question to Longcore:
You’ve been very straightforward about your desire to see TNR and the feeding of feral cats outlawed. But then what?
I’ve yet to hear from you—or anybody on your side of the issue—spell it out. We all know the cats won’t disappear in the absence of TNR/feeding. We can argue about rates of population growth, carrying capacity, etc.—but let’s keep it simple here. Under your plan, there are these feral cats—an awful lot of them—that no longer have access to the assistance of humans (other than scavenging trash, say). OK, now what?
Will it be like what was done on Marion Island, where—despite being only 115-square-miles in size, barren, and uninhabited—it took something like 16 years to eradicate 2,500 cats? Using disease (feline distemper), poisoning, intensive hunting and trapping, and—if I’m not mistaken—dogs.
And, while we’re at it, who will pay for this unprecedented nightmare?
These are not rhetorical questions. As I say, I’ve heard plenty of arguments against TNR over the past year or so. I’ve yet to hear a single counter-proposal. Not one.
Trap-and-remove? That’s not a proposal—that’s a bromide. I want to hear about how all this would play out. And this seems like an appropriate venue, given the original topic and your role in the L.A. injunction.
So, Travis, what would you do?
Two days later, no word from Longcore. a well-considered reply, but still no answer to the question posed.