Maine birders have a chance to help prevent bird mortality from cats by helping get cats sterilized before this spring's unwanted pregnancies begin. In a February "Beat the Heat" campaign, and with help from a grant from PetSmart Charities, Center for Wildlife Health Research will donate money to help get 250 female cats sterilized at Community Spay-Neuter Clinic before spring "heat". These 250 cats are on top of the 9,600 cats that have been sterilized at the clinic since it opened 3 1/2 years ago. Female cats will be sterilized for just $20 each. While those $20 slots have been filled, the Clinic's normally low fee allows low-income families to afford this important service. Please help us get the word out about spaying and neutering cats.
Maine birders are likely well aware of the high numbers of birds killed by cats in the U.S. every year. In their 2013 Nature Communications paper titled, The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States, authors S.R. Loss, T. Will, and P.P. Marra concluded that an estimated 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals are killed by cats annually. They go on to state, "Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality. Our findings suggest that free-ranging cats cause substantially greater wildlife mortality than previously thought and are likely the single greatest source of anthropogenic mortality for US birds and mammals."
Community Spay-Neuter Clinic targets unsterilized cats belonging to low-income households, where timely spay-neuter is less likely to happen. Spay-neuter that targets low-income households can help to reduce the number of free-ranging cats that were identified by Loss et al. as causing the majority of bird mortality. In the 2009 paper, "Population Characteristics and neuter status of cats living in households in the United States" (JAVMA 234(8)) by K. Chu et al, only 51.4% of cats in households with annual incomes of $35,000 or less were neutered. U.S. Census data (http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk) show that 36.8% of households in Maine fall in this income bracket.
Owned cats that are allowed outdoors are a source of free-ranging and feral cat populations. Preliminary data collected at the Clinic through client surveys show that 45% of owned cats brought in for sterilization are allowed outdoors. On average, 1 of 3 females have already had 1 litter (averaging 6 kittens per litter), and 23% of resulting kittens have been lost to the wild. These kittens potentially add to the feral cat population. Approximately 71% of female cats presenting for sterilization were likely or highly likely, according to their owner, to become pregnant or pregnant again without the Clinic's help.
If you want to help, "Like" us (search Community Spay-Neuter Clinic) on FaceBook. Donations are also accepted. For more information, visit www.communityspayneuterclinic.com or write to communityspayneuter@yahoo.com. The Clinic transports cats to the Freeport clinic from as far away as Waterville, Dover-Foxcroft and Rockland for day surgery for a subsidized fee ranging from $10-$60.
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