Opinion: St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach Has Best Interests of Rally Cat
Thankfully the volunteers at the non-profit St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach were able to find and trap the cat known as “rally cat” since running across the field during a Cardinals game on August 9th.
St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach is a 501c3 organization (tax-exempt nonprofit). We’re a resource page for trappers, caretakers/feeders, and cat lovers dedicated to Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in St. Louis, MO and surrounding communities. The page is managed by several trappers and colony/caretakers and we believe that TNR is the best and most effective approach to cat overpopulation.
Our goal is to reduce the feral cat population in St. Louis, MO and surrounding communities while improving the quality of life for both cats and humans. High-volume use of low-cost or free spay-neuter services to sterilize feral, semi-feral, stray and domestic cats will help us achieve this goal.
Feral cats are wild animals, not domesticated pets. They’re also called community cats:
Community cats are not adoptable and shelters rarely will accept them. The fact is, most community cats exhibit wild, shy or frightened behavior, and it’s impossible to predict how or if they will ever acclimate to indoor life. While a community cat might look exactly the same as a pet cat, community cats survive by avoiding close human interaction. When properly cared for, community cats are happier outdoors in their own territory.
Some semi-community cats are actually stray cats who don’t exhibit quite the same shy behavior as the majority of community cats. Occasionally, these cats are born in the wild but, for no particular reason are less fearful of humans than is typical. Many semi-community cats lack the knowledge to survive on their own, and are often rejected by established colonies. It is possible for some of these cats to be socialized, but it depends on their trust of humans. It is very important to take caution, especially with cats who seem to straddle the fence between community and friendly. Getting them to trust people again might be hard, making them extremely difficult to adopt out. (ASPCA)
Some feral cats can be adopted and domesticated, most cannot. Thus, it makes sense the St. Louis Feral Cat Outreach doesn’t want Rally Cat to be forced to live in the Cardinal’s clubhouse.
In the recent non-scientiofic Sunday Poll just over half agreed, with more than 10% in the middle.
Q: Agree or disagree: The St. Louis Cardinals should get custody of “rally cat.”
- Strongly agree 6 [15.38%]
- Agree 5 [12.82%]
- Somewhat agree 2 [5.13%]
- Neither agree or disagree 4 [10.26%]
- Somewhat disagree 3 [7.69%]
- Disagree 7 [17.95%]
- Strongly disagree 11 [28.21%]
- Unsure/No Answer 1 [2.56%]
This has forced me to read up on the varied opinions on Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).
— Steve Patterson