Did you know that on Hawai’i Island, free-roaming cats outnumber humans? Although no one knows the real number, estimates say there are 500,000 cats to 210,000 humans! More free-roaming cats means an increased burden on rescues and fosters trying to find a home for them, as well as those who care for communities of cats that can’t be placed in a home. Illness, attacks from other animals, and being hit by cars can often cut the lives of these cats short. What’s more, free-roaming cats can have negative implications on Hawaii’s native wildlife, including endangered species. Fortunately, there is a humane and effective way to substantially shrink the Big Island’s free-roaming cat population, and it starts with TNRM.
Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage, or TNRM, is the effective, compassionate way to reduce the free-roaming cat population on Hawai’i Island. To understand how it works, let’s imagine that there’s a free-roaming cat who lives outdoors with a group of other cats (a colony). We’ll call this cat Gillie. Gillie is a female, free-roaming cat who was born in a colony in the spring. By the fall, she’s become pregnant with her own litter.
At this rate, Gillie can have at least three litters a year, with an average litter size of five kittens. Considering that female cats can become pregnant as early as four to six months of age, and the gestation period is only around two months long, it’s no wonder that the cat population is growing at unprecedented rates!
Now imagine that Gillie is part of a community cat colony that includes feral, semi-feral, abandoned/stray, and friendly cats, all living outdoors on Hawai’i Island. And this colony has a human caretaker who feeds the cats, watches over them, and traps them when they need to be spayed and neutered.
Through a local TNRM program, Gillie and her kittens are humanely trapped, and brought to an Aloha Animal Oasis clinic or other local clinic to be vaccinated, spayed/neutered, microchipped, checked for any illnesses, ear-tipped, and returned to their original outdoor home. If you’re wondering why Gillie or any other cat’s ear has been tipped, it’s simple: A tipped ear is the universal sign that a cat has been neutered and vaccinated. This helps volunteers (or well-meaning neighbors) know which cats should not be targeted for trapping. If you see a cat with a tipped ear, rest assured knowing that it has a home with a human or in a cat colony.
Gillie isn’t alone. At the clinic, there are many other cats being spayed or neutered and ear tipped. They may be there because an Aloha Animal Oasis volunteer trapped a colony cat just like Gillie and took them to a scheduled spay/neuter clinic. Or they may be at the clinic because a local resident brought their pet or free-roaming neighborhood cat in for a ‘pay what you can’ spay/neuter service.
As part of our cat colony management, Aloha Animal Oasis even rescues kittens like Gillie’s and socializes them through our foster program before adopting them out. As far as adult cats like Gillie, many free-roaming cats have never lived with people and are not socialized, so they do not do well being adopted out… and that’s Ok! If this is the case, we return them to their outdoor colony after TNRM, where they can happily live a full life without becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy (here’s looking at you Tom cats) every few months!
It’s clear that the benefits of TNRM on Hawai’i Island are many! For cats like Gillie, TNRM will help them break out of the cycle of perpetual pregnancies. A community colony with cats that have been part of our TNRM program is an outdoor colony that is healthier, vaccinated, and stabilized.
TNRM programs also benefit our island! Less free-roaming cats means less predators of native wildlife habitats and coastal areas. TNRM programs have even been linked to a decrease in the impact of cat-borne pathogens on marine life.
To achieve Aloha Animal Oasis’ goal of reducing the free-roaming cat population on the island, we have developed an ambitious plan that starts with spay/neuter clinics, but also includes foster and adoption programs, educational programs to encourage responsible pet ownership, and culminates in our mission to build an enclosed cat sanctuary, protecting both the cats and local wildlife from each other.
With your help, we can give our island’s cats a chance for a healthy life. Please contact us about the next TNRM clinic. Ready to help us continue our spay/neuter program? Your donation can make a real difference!
