Spehar Daniel D, Wolf Peter J
Independent Researcher, 4758 Ridge Road, #409, Cleveland, OH 44144, USA.
Best Friends Animal Society, 5001 Angel Canyon Road, Kanab, UT 84741, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2018 Apr 13;8(4):55. doi: 10.3390/ani8040055.
Available evidence indicates that overall levels of feline intake and euthanasia at U.S. shelters have significantly declined in recent decades. Nevertheless, millions of cats, many of them free-roaming, continue to be admitted to shelters each year. In some locations, as many as 70% of cats, perhaps up to one million or more per year nationally, are euthanized. New approaches, including return-to-field (RTF) and targeted trap-neuter-return (TNR) appear to have transformative potential. The purpose of the present study was to examine changes in feline intake and euthanasia, as well as additional associated metrics, at a municipal animal shelter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after institutionalized RTF and targeted TNR protocols, together referred to as a community cat program (CCP), were added to ongoing community-based TNR efforts and a pilot RTF initiative. Over the course of the CCP, which ran from April 2012 to March 2015, 11,746 cats were trapped, sterilized, vaccinated, and returned or adopted. Feline euthanasia at the Albuquerque Animal Welfare Department (AAWD) declined by 84.1% and feline intake dropped by 37.6% over three years; the live release rate (LRR) increased by 47.7% due primarily to these reductions in both intake and euthanasia. Modest increases in the percentage of cats returned to owner (RTO) and the adoption rate were also observed, although both metrics decreased on an absolute basis, while the number of calls to the city about dead cats declined.
现有证据表明，近几十年来，美国动物收容所猫的收容数量和安乐死数量总体上显著下降。尽管如此，每年仍有数以百万计的猫被收容，其中许多是流浪猫。在一些地方，多达70%的猫被安乐死，全国范围内每年可能多达100万只甚至更多。包括放归野外（RTF）和针对性诱捕-绝育-放归（TNR）在内的新方法似乎具有变革潜力。本研究的目的是，在新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基市的一个市政动物收容所，考察在将制度化的RTF和针对性TNR方案（统称为社区猫项目，CCP）添加到正在进行的基于社区的TNR工作和一项RTF试点倡议之后，猫的收容数量和安乐死数量的变化，以及其他相关指标。在2012年4月至2015年3月实施CCP的过程中，共诱捕、绝育、接种疫苗并放归或领养了11,746只猫。阿尔伯克基动物福利部（AAWD）的猫安乐死数量在三年间下降了84.1%，猫的收容数量下降了37.6%；由于收容数量和安乐死数量的减少，活体放归率（LRR）提高了47.7%。虽然猫被主人领回（RTO）的比例和领养率在绝对数量上有所下降，但也观察到有适度增加，同时关于死猫的市民投诉电话数量有所减少。
