McDonald Jenni L, Hodgson Dave J, Roberts Claire, Finka Lauren, Halls Vicky, Foreman-Worsley Rae
Feline Welfare Research Team, Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Haywards Heath, United Kingdom.
Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, United Kingdom.
Front Vet Sci. 2025 Jul 22;12:1610123. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1610123. eCollection 2025.
The overpopulation of domestic cats has the potential to result in negative outcomes for cats, people and the surrounding environment. A whole-population approach to management requires a system of services considering owned, shelter and free-living, unowned cats. Population management should also be considered at a localised level, with thought given to the unique populations of both cats and people in each environment. There is no simple, overarching solution to effective cat population management. Long-term management improvements require the addressing of root causes of overpopulation, rather than simply controlling the abundance of unowned cats. The role of rehoming organisations can be optimised by taking in only those cats that are suitable for rehoming and managing other unowned cats through community-level interventions. These approaches are beneficial for cat welfare, the welfare of cat carers and ultimately help more cats. Population processes, including reproductive output and survival of cats, and the carrying capacity offered by their environment, should also be critical considerations for the management of free-living, unowned cats. Compensatory effects, such as the movement of cats from neighbouring unowned or owned populations following population declines due to trap-neuter-return or rehoming, may contribute to the limited success of management programs. Education of cat carers around feeding and its effect on local carrying capacity is likely to be a valuable component of population management. Unrealistic expectations for the success of population management will be mitigated via better understanding of the population processes of domestic cats and of the attributes, attitudes and behaviours of people within local communities. It can take time for population numbers to reduce meaningfully via natural-cause mortality, and short-term population reductions can be misleading as populations may return due to compensatory processes. This wider understanding both within affected communities and for those actively participating in management is critical to developing practical solutions with realistic outcomes. Indeed, where there are owned cats or neighbouring free-living, unowned cats, then population management should be considered a permanent range of services that need to be sustained and adapted over time.
家猫数量过多可能会给猫、人类和周围环境带来负面影响。全面的管理方法需要一个服务体系，该体系要考虑到有主猫、收容所猫以及自由生活的无主猫。还应在地方层面考虑种群管理，要考虑到每个环境中猫和人的独特种群情况。对于有效的猫种群管理，没有简单、全面的解决方案。长期的管理改进需要解决数量过多的根本原因，而不是仅仅控制无主猫的数量。重新安置组织的作用可以通过只收留那些适合重新安置的猫，并通过社区层面的干预措施来管理其他无主猫来得到优化。这些方法有利于猫的福利、养猫者的福利，并最终帮助更多的猫。种群过程，包括猫的繁殖产出和生存，以及它们所处环境提供的承载能力，也应该是管理自由生活的无主猫时的关键考虑因素。补偿效应，比如在因诱捕绝育放归或重新安置导致种群数量下降后，猫从邻近的无主或有主种群迁入，这可能导致管理项目的成效有限。围绕喂养及其对当地承载能力的影响对养猫者进行教育，可能是种群管理的一个重要组成部分。通过更好地了解家猫的种群过程以及当地社区内人们的特征、态度和行为，可以减少对种群管理成功的不切实际期望。种群数量通过自然原因导致的死亡而显著减少可能需要时间，短期的种群减少可能会产生误导，因为种群可能会由于补偿过程而恢复。在受影响的社区内部以及对于那些积极参与管理工作的人来说，这种更广泛的理解对于制定具有实际成效的切实可行的解决方案至关重要。事实上，如果存在有主猫或邻近的自由生活的无主猫，那么种群管理应该被视为一系列需要长期维持和不断调整的永久性服务。
