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Student Life

Stray cats remain a problem on campus

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The stray cat population has brought the Florida animal overpopulation issue to the University of South Florida.

There are approximately 200,000 feral or stray cats in the Tampa area, according to Linda Hamilton, executive director of the Animal Coalition of Tampa.

No exact figures for the cat population on campus exist, but they are noticeable.

“I see them pretty often. It’s pretty sad that some people don’t spay or neuter their pets,” said Geoffrey Gray, a senior at USF.

Some cats are on campus due to owners abandoning them.

Feral cats are born in the wild or have lived in the wild for a long time without human contact. They often live in colonies in an area that has a food source, such as dumpsters. If not spayed or neutered, they can have several litters of kittens in one year.

In Florida, all adopted cats and dogs must be spayed or neutered. While feral cats are not adoptable, some feral have been spayed or neutered, which helps control the animal population.

The cats on the USF campus can be seen around Cooper Hall and the residence areas on the north side of campus.

“It’s unfortunate that they don’t have a place to live and it’d be cool if they started a program to take care of the cats on campus,” said Andie Cunniffe, senior at USF.

Discussion

7 Responses to “Stray cats remain a problem on campus”

  1. How to reduce feral-cats THE-TNR-WAY by natural attrition without traps & sterilizing:

    (or “The Way That *ALL* Stray-Cats Die”)

    1. Aim your car for cats when it’s safe for all else to do so.

    2. Put out poison for cats (Acetaminophen/Paracetamol pain-killers (the most cat-species specific), antifreeze, vermin-poisons, poisonous plants or animals — the ways that all TNR’ed cats succumb to “attrition” by poisons).

    3. Infect them with deadly diseases.

    4. Turn your dogs or other large predators loose on them.

    5. Starve them to death.

    6. Let them die of thirst.

    7. Put them in heated boxes until they die of heat exhaustion (emulate hot weather).

    8. Throw them in freezers until they are dead (emulate a harsh winter).

    9. Scratch the cat’s eyes and gash their skin to emulate a cat-attack so they slowly die of infections. (Justifiably the same way they destroy all native animals. Though that involves more skinning-alive and disemboweling-alive so the cat can enjoy their play-toy writhe and twitch to death. The longer it takes an animal to die of wounds the more a cat enjoys it. The cat-lovers themselves also greatly enjoy this, or they wouldn’t let their cats do it.)

    10. Trap and drown.

    11. Shoot them.

    Can you think of more ways that *ALL* TNR’ed cats die?

    NONE of them die of old-age you know!

    Any of these are the “natural” ways that TNR’ed cats die, according to TNR-Advocates’ own definition of how their cats die through “attrition”, so TNR-advocates should have NO problems when you destroy their cats this way!

    Right?

    It’s how they’re doing it! TO EVERY LAST ONE OF THEIR TNR CATS.

    If you kill their cats this way and they complain, they’re just being whiny hypocrites. That’s all.

    The ONLY difference in destroying them immediately in the manner that ALL TNR’ed cats die; instead of trapping and sterilizing them first; is that some money isn’t going into an HSUS board-member’s pocket, veterinarian’s pocket, cat-food company CEO’s pocket, or a drug-company CEO’s pocket. That’s the ONLY difference.

    Posted by woodsman001 | March 27, 2012, 11:01 pm
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    • The first comment on this article is being reported to HCAS and the USF Dean of Students so that the suggestions of cruelty may be investigated. There have been facultly and staff–and now also students–actively engaged in Trap Neuter Return on campus for more than 15 years now. The overpopulation crisis–which yes, is a big problem (especially for all the innocent cats and dogs being killed in shelters) in the Tampa Bay area–did not “bring” the Florida animal over population problem to campus. Feral cats, for some of the reasons mentioned in the article such as food sources and abandonment (often by students), are a reality on college campuses across the nation–including up north. Highly regarded institutions such as Stanford and the University of Washington (among others) have very successful programs managing feral cats on campus. Free roaming cats are a fact of life and TNR (trap neuter return) has been demonstrated as the only humane and effective mechanism for managing such populations. Shelter euthanasia is performed on tax payer dollars and has been proven in Hillsborough County, by Frank Hamilton President of the Animal Coaltion of Tampa & Eckerd College Professor, to cost significantly more to tax payers–and is less effective due to the vaccuum effect–than when volunteers practice Trap Neuter Return using their own resources or those available from organizations which are not funded from taxes. As TNR has increased dramatically in Hillsborough Cty in the past several years, the euthanasia rate at Hills. Cty. Animal Services has decreased in direct proportion. Trap Neuter Return and increased low-cost sterilization programs are saving both money and lives. I would suggest the comment above be removed before an investigation commences.

      Posted by USF Alumnus, employee and activist | March 28, 2012, 1:26 pm
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      • I hope you do report this comment, make lots of copies to hand around. Then they’ll see that TNR’ing cats is pure cruelty to animals. Not only to the cats but absolute cruelty to all the native animals that your invasive-species cats cruelly rip to shreds for play-toys. Why don’t you just go to pet stores and buy canaries and hamsters to throw at your cats for them to skin them alive or disembowel them alive for the cats’ and your entertainment. It would be the VERY SAME THING that you are doing to all native wildlife by letting your invasive-species cats roam free.

        When you do submit the reports of this comment, I hope they lock-up each and every one of you in prison for a long long time for your cruelty to ALL animals. You’re an absolute waste of human flesh, proved 100%.

        Posted by woodsman001 | March 28, 2012, 3:25 pm

  2. TNR-Advocates “Vacuum Effect” is an absolute 100% LIE (OR “The Deadly Cat-Attractor Equation”)

    There’s an interesting study done by the Texas A&M University on TNR practices. They started out with about 12 sterilized cats. At the end of 9 months they had over 30. An increase of more than 200%, all moved in of their own volition. This isn’t due to any mythical “vacuum effect” that cat-advocates spread and lie about so often. For that to have happened you would have had to remove cats to create a vacuum for others to replace them. The exact opposite happened in this study.

    Simple reason being: CATS ATTRACT CATS

    Cat scents attract cats. This is why they spray everything, to attract mates and rivals and mark territory. Cat sounds attract cats. Mewing kittens will even attract stray toms who will kill the kittens if they are not their own (basic feline behavior of any cat species).

    If you want more cats, keep some around. More will find you. Get rid of them all and there’s no reason for other cats to come to that area. I proved this myself by getting rid of every last cat on my own land, HUNDREDS of them. ZERO cats moved in to replace them.

    Another interesting finding, sterilized cats very poorly defend their territory. Any new cats see this as easy-pickings and move in to take over. If that cat-colony is being fed then non-sterilized cats will actually overtake the sterilized colony’s food-source because the non-sterilized cats are not as docile and complacent.

    The DEADLY Cat-Attractor Equation

    Another fun kicker. Cats’ Toxoplasma gondii parasite they spread through their feces is meant to infect rodents. This cat-parasite alters the mind of any animal it infests (even humans). Any rodents infected lose their fear of cats and are attracted to cat urine. http://scitizen.com/neuroscience/parasite-hijacks-the-mind-of-its-host_a-23-509.html Not only do cats attract more cats, but they also attract more rodents to the area with their slew of flea-borne and other rodent diseases. If cats eat rodents then they contract those rodent diseases to spread those diseases to humans. The attractor-equation is not just CATS = CATS + CATS, it’s actually CATS = CATS + CATS + RODENTS + DISEASES.

    TNR IS 100% FAILURE — no matter which way you try to spin that sorry hole-filled story.

    ANY cat — stray, feral, sterilized, or fertile — is just a magnetic “seed cat”. No matter how they are there or in what state of reproductive-viability that they are in, you’ll attract and grow more of them. Even worse — then you attract cat-advocates that want to turn your life into a living hell too. They’re all part of the same life-destroying equation.

    The FULL cat-attractor equation is actually: CATS = CATS + CATS + RODENTS + DISEASES + LIFE-DESTROYING CAT-ADVOCATES.

    This is why you MUST destroy all cats on your land. So cat-advocates will never be able to control or rule your life ever again. It’s THAT simple.

    I did it on my land. Now it’s YOUR turn.

    Posted by woodsman001 | March 28, 2012, 3:27 pm
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  3. These are just the diseases they’ve been spreading to humans, not counting the ones they spread to all wildlife. THERE ARE NO VACCINES against many of these, and are in-fact listed as bio-terrorism agents. They include: Campylobacter Infection, Cat Scratch Disease, Coxiella burnetti Infection (Q fever), Cryptosporidium Infection, Dipylidium Infection (tapeworm), Hookworm Infection, Leptospira Infection, Giardia, Plague, Rabies, Ringworm, Salmonella Infection, Toxocara Infection, Toxoplasma. [Centers for Disease Control, July 2010] Sarcosporidiosis, Flea-borne Typhus, and Tularemia can now also be added to that list.

    Cat-Transmitted PLAGUE:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8059908
    http://www.pagosasun.com/archives/2011/07July/072811/webplague.html

    Tularemia (rabbit-fever, transmissible to humans):
    http://www.westyellowstonenews.com/news/article_02fceec6-f695-11e0-b752-001cc4c002e0.html

    Flea-borne Typhus:
    http://www.ocregister.com/articles/county-317133-animals-cases.html

    Their most insidious disease of all, cats’ Toxoplasma gondii parasite they spread through their feces into all other animals. This is how it gets into meats and humans get it from meats, cats roaming around stockyards and farms. This is why cats are ROUTINELY destroyed around gestating livestock or important wildlife by shooting or drowning them. So those animals won’t suffer from the same things that can happen to the unborn fetus of any pregnant woman. (Miscarriages, still-births, hydrocephaly, and microcephaly.) It can kill you at any time during your life once you’ve been infected. It becomes a permanent lifetime parasite in your mind, killing you when your immune system becomes compromised. It can last over a year in any soils or waters and not even washing your hands or garden vegetables in bleach will destroy the oocysts. Contrary to popular cat-lovers’ self-deceptive myths, a cat can also become reinfected many times during its life and spread new oocysts each time. It’s now linked to the cause of autism, schizophrenia, and brain cancers. This parasite is now also killing off rare and endangered marine-mammals along all coastal areas from cats’ T. gondii oocysts in run-off from the land, the oocysts even surviving in saltwater.

    Its strange life cycle is meant to infect rodents. Any rodents infected with it lose their fear of cats and are actually attracted to cat urine.

    scitizen.com/neuroscience/parasite-hijacks-the-mind-of-its-host_a-23-509.html

    Cats attract rodents to your home with their whole slew of diseases. If you want rodents in your home keep cats outside of it to attract diseased rodents to your area.

    The time has come to destroy them all whenever spotted away from supervised confinement.

    Posted by woodsman001 | March 28, 2012, 3:33 pm
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  4. More “FUN FACTS” of TNR-Advocates

    I recently learned that TNR cat-hoarders practice a form of “TNR-On-A-Budget” (my name for it). TNR cat-hoarders who want to keep feeding their cats but can’t afford all that tedious mucking-about and getting them sterilized or vaccinated just trap the cats and clip the cats’ ears themselves. Then release them again right after clipping their ears. Doing their best to hide all evidence of where they keep these colonies and telling few about them. This way the cat if trapped again just gets released right there so the cat-hoarder can continue to dote-over and feed their unsterilized and unvaccinated cats. Plus everyone else who might happen on their secret cat-hoarding locations thinks those cats are sterilized and vaccinated so they have fewer concerns about them still overbreeding or spreading deadly diseases. The TNR cat-hoarder feeder just tells them, “Oh, don’t worry. See that clipped ear? They are sterilized and vaccinated. Perfectly fine and legal!”

    Thanks to these “TNR-On-A-Budget” people, clipped-eared cats must also be trapped and euthanize or destroyed on-site — the only affordable and sane solution for everyone.

    If you doubt what I claim about TNR-cat-hoarding addicts practicing “TNR-On-A-Budget”, then perhaps you might enjoy this post I found to again prove everything I say is 100% true. They don’t talk about this practice too openly, just like they like to hide their cat-hoarders’ colonies and how they attempt to do so (also revealed in the thread this post was taken from, verifiable link below).

    “Chris Cook
    We had a culling of the neighborhood cats 2 years ago when there were only 10 or so (I lost 4 under my care in the same week). Now there’s over 25 – that I know about (about half fixed)… it’s just a matter of time before someone decides they have the ‘solution’ to the cat ‘problem’. All I can do is get them tipped (in case Animal Services gets them, there’s a small chance they’ll release them back to the area they caught them) and hope for the best by making my own yard a hidden sanctuary of sorts. At least my HOA knows I’m TNRing them and not just feeding them so they (for now) look the other way while slamming the feeders-and-breeders who contributed to the problem getting out of hand and refusing any and all offers of assistance.”

    from: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=295067530554567&id=110911218963121

    Not only is this criminally irresponsible TNR cat-hoarder feeding unsterilized cats, she even attracted MORE cats to keep reproducing — which again disproves their oft-spewed “vacuum effect” LIE. While also lying to her HOA to boot. She even believes that what she is doing *is* TNR, that’s just how demented these people are. I’d say this person reflects the norm rather than the exception, since TNR advocates relentlessly lie about so much and so often.

    Posted by woodsman001 | March 28, 2012, 3:39 pm
    Reply to this comment

  5. Here’s some important information to help you understand “cat-lovers”. Something I discovered when “cat-lovers” (an oxymoronic label if there ever was one) were using cats to overtake my land, eventually even by moving my property markers when using their cats had failed — failed because I got the legal go-ahead to shoot their cats. (An expensive many $1000 lesson for these property-thieves, surveyors are not cheap.) I often wondered why they kept releasing new cats onto my land even long AFTER they already knew that all their cats were being shot to death, they were told this is what was going to happen, and was happening. Clearly something else was motivating these people. How many do you know that keep releasing cats after seeing many of them become road-kill, harmed by cat and animal attacks, die of diseases, killed by environmental poisons, etc.? (Like every last TNR-advocate for starters.) They don’t care about cats, not in the least!

    “Human Territorial Behavior By Expendable Proxy”:

    I have come to the conclusion that “cat-lovers” and cat-owners letting destructive invasive-species roam free, and those that defend the rights of cats to overtake private and public property and wildlife areas, are only (cowardly) using cats as a proxy for their OWN territorial behavior. Like inner-city youth that will disrespectfully and inconsiderately use loud music to stake-out territory for themselves. Whether this behavior is done consciously or subconsciously the underlying motive is the same. As long as they can have one of their cats defecate in another’s yard or destroy their property, animals, and wildlife; and the land-owner not have any recourse; the cat-owner/caretaker owns that territory. It’s time to put a stop to them using their “cute kitty” excuse for usurping and stealing others’ property. If they want territory they can buy it like anyone else. Instead they’re using underhanded and manipulative means–putting (and sacrificing) live animals in the path of their envy and greed. “Cat-lovers” only really want your yard, garden, or forest while making all others and all other animals suffer for what they can’t have. Bottom line–they want to control you and your property. That’s _ALL_ that “cat-lovers” are really after. It’s why they don’t care at all if their cat nor any other animals, nor even other humans, get harmed by their goals and (lack of) values in life.

    Cat-advocates in Florida are even trying to get a court to let them use shopping-centers and hotels as places where they can keep their cat colonies (to act as speed-bumps, car-accidents, and health-violation-lawsuits waiting to happen I presume). We can now add “Shopping Centers” and “Hotels” (AND college campuses) to the kinds of property that they want to steal from the owners and control.

    They can’t be stopped from their behavior. They psychotically believe they are doing “god’s work” for themselves. So you must destroy their MAN-MADE INVASIVE-SPECIES cats. It’s the ONLY solution.

    Posted by woodsman001 | March 28, 2012, 3:42 pm
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