Gunther I, Raz T, Berke O, Klement E
Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agricultural, Food & Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agricultural, Food & Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Prev Vet Med. 2015 May 1;119(3-4):203-10. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2015.02.012. Epub 2015 Feb 21.
Free roaming cats (FRC) are highly abundant in cities around the world. Increasing populations of these cats might result in impairment of cat welfare and cause nuisances and public health risks. In order to study the seasonal dynamics of FRC populations and its association with events of cat welfare impairment and nuisances, we analyzed a database of FRC-associated citizens' telephone complaint events, which were registered in five cities in Israel (total human population of 1.42 million residents) during the years 2007-2011. These complaint events were classified to the following six categories: cat's carcasses, kittens, parturition, aggressive behavior toward people, invasion to human facilities, and cat injuries and distress. Overall, 87,764 complaint events associated with these categories were registered in the five cities during the study period (123.2 complaint events per 10,000 citizens per year). Length of daylight was moderately correlated with the rate of complaints on kittens in the same month (r=0.64) and parturition in the previous month (r=0.54) (P<0.001). Both kitten and parturition-related complaints showed a prominent seasonal pattern, peaking in April and May, respectively, and declining gradually until November. 'Kittens' or 'parturition' were explicitly mentioned in 38%, 39% and 19%, respectively, of the complaints regarding cat aggressiveness toward people, cat invasion to human facilities and cat injuries and distress. In most of the cities the rate of citizen complaints regarding carcasses, aggression, invasion and injuries were still significantly correlated with rate of complaints regarding kittens after omission of these joint complaints and remained significant after controlling for seasonality. These findings imply an association of cat welfare impairment and nuisances with FRC reproduction intensity. The current study revealed the high rate of nuisances and potential public health hazards related to FRC, as well as the impairment of cat welfare, which might be merely 'the tip of the iceberg' of the real welfare situation of these cats. Further studies should examine the effectiveness of FRC population control strategies for the reduction of the rate of nuisances and public health risks related to FRC, as well as for improving their welfare.
自由放养的猫（FRC）在世界各地的城市中数量众多。这些猫数量的不断增加可能会导致猫福利受损，并造成滋扰和公共卫生风险。为了研究FRC种群的季节动态及其与猫福利受损事件和滋扰的关联，我们分析了一个与FRC相关的公民电话投诉事件数据库，这些事件于2007年至2011年期间在以色列的五个城市（总人口142万居民）登记。这些投诉事件被分为以下六类：猫的尸体、小猫、分娩、对人的攻击行为、侵入人类设施以及猫的受伤和痛苦。总体而言，在研究期间，五个城市共登记了87764起与这些类别相关的投诉事件（每年每10000名公民中有123.2起投诉事件）。日照时长与当月小猫投诉率（r = 0.64）和上月分娩投诉率（r = 0.54）呈中度相关（P < 0.001）。与小猫和分娩相关的投诉均呈现出明显的季节性模式，分别在4月和5月达到峰值，并逐渐下降直至11月。在关于猫对人的攻击性、猫侵入人类设施以及猫的受伤和痛苦的投诉中，分别有38%、39%和19%明确提到了“小猫”或“分娩”。在大多数城市中，在剔除这些联合投诉后，公民关于尸体、攻击、侵入和受伤的投诉率仍与关于小猫的投诉率显著相关，并且在控制季节性因素后仍然显著。这些发现意味着猫福利受损和滋扰与FRC繁殖强度之间存在关联。当前研究揭示了与FRC相关的高滋扰率和潜在公共卫生危害，以及猫福利受损情况，而这可能仅仅是这些猫实际福利状况的“冰山一角”。进一步的研究应考察FRC种群控制策略对于降低与FRC相关的滋扰率和公共卫生风险以及改善其福利的有效性。
