I am an alumna of Penn State and it has recently come to my attention that there is a feral cat colony currently on the campus of PSU and it is not being dealt with appropriately. It has been proven in study after study that trap-neuter-release is the ONLY effective way to deal with cat colonies; destroying the cats merely creates a vacuum that will be filled by other abandoned cats. Based on PSU's own statement about the matter, I do not believe that anyone at the institution has any understanding of cat colonies and how they work. I want to send the message to them that there are plenty of people out there who DO understand the dynamics of cat colonies and that we are begging them to get educated on the subject and to do the right thing.
The statement from Penn State:
Feral cats Today at 5:58am
There have been some inaccurate posts to this page over the past two days on the topic of feral cats at Penn State. Here's the accurate story: Over the last year Penn State has had a problem with a small colony of feral cats in the Innovation Park area between the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel and the Daybridge Child Development Center at Innovation Park, causing a health and safety hazard for employees, visitors and the children at the day care center.The University's efforts to remove the colony from the area are being thwarted by well-meaning employees at Innovation Park, who are leaving food out for these animals, thinking they're aiding them. However, these are not abandoned, domestic cats. They're feral, descended from once domestic cats that several generations ago were released into the wild. Feral cats have been born in the wild, live in the wild and have never been domesticated. They are aggressive, adverse to human contact and are much more likely to scratch and bite than domesticated cats. In addition, they carry diseases that can be transmitted to people through a scratch or bite, or through their fecal matter. Right now the colony is small. Over the last year, the University's pest control company has had to remove only six cats, all of which were captured and taken to a local Humane Society. However, those who are feeding these feral animals are not only keeping the small colony in the area, but are encouraging the colony to grow. The most effective way to keep them away is to eliminate the food source. We need your help in achieving this, so employees and visitors should stop leaving food for the animals.
Dangers from feral cats include:-- Cat scratch disease (CSD), a bacterial disease caused by Bartonella henselae. According to the Centers for Disease Control, most people with CSD have been bitten or scratched by a cat and developed a mild infection at the point of injury. Lymph nodes, especially those around the head, neck, and upper limbs, become swollen. Additionally, a person with CSD may experience fever, headache, fatigue, and a poor appetite. Cats that carry the bacteria do not show any signs of illness; therefore, you cannot tell which cats can spread the disease to you.
-- Transmission of various parasites, including roundworms, hookworms, and ringworm, that can infect both humans and other animals through skin contact with sand or soil -- such as what is found in a child's sandbox or playground -- that has been contaminated with eggs shed in the feces of infected animals.
-- Transmission of other diseases, including tetanus and rabies, through scratches and bites.Cats are able to breed when they are 6 months old, and a pair of breeding cats, which can have two or more litters per year, can exponentially produce 420,000 offspring over a seven-year period. For the safety of our campus community and the children in the Innovation Park area, please do not feed these wild animals.
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