To address the increased population of feral cats that have taken up home at the FI Waste Management District (FIWMD) Transfer Station, we are pleased to announce a renewed collaborative effort with FIWMD.
You may remember the cat program from several years ago. The program
works to trap the cats for spay and neutering in order to control the population and improve the overall health of the feral cats going forward. Feral cats can destroy songbird populations. The FIWMD is committed to supporting the amazing work done by the Conservancy with the Parade Grounds bird sanctuary.
In the 2000s, the feral cat population surged on Fishers Island, with numbers estimated to be in the hundreds.
Contributing factors were residents and visitors who allowed their unneutered cats to roam and breed or left them behind when departing the Island.
In response, the Fishers Island Conservancy developed a humane approach by instituting a volunteer-managed program of trap, neuter, and release on the Island’s West End.
After a few years of successful efforts, it is thought that coyotes provided a natural form of population control.
Photo by Kristen Peterson
In the last couple of years, we have started to see an uptick in the feral cat population, particularly at the Transfer Station. This has coincided with a decrease in the coyote population and an increase in human interaction with the cats. There has been an ad hoc feeding program started at the Transfer Station, and the FIWMD and FI Conservancy would like to formalize the cat feeding program to work towards the eventual capture and spay/neuter of the cat population.
FIWMD and FI Conservancy do not deny that the cats have a certain value to the station, potentially keeping the rodent population at bay. A lower rodent population will mean less residential poison being used, which is also better for the birds, so there is a delicate balance we want to maintain.
We want to ensure the public understands that feeding cats is a key component of the humane control of the cat population.
Feeding them makes it possible to trap them for the spay/neuter program.
They need to be somewhat comfortable with human interaction for the program to succeed.
FI Conservancy has looked into numerous avenues since the Jackie Williamson era, and unfortunately there are a lot of logistical and state issues with trying to get TAG vans to the island. So our best option is to take them to town to a vet hospital.
A volunteer will take the cats to the vet visit. We are exploring spay/neuter options with Stonington Vet Hospital and Nutmeg Spay/Neuter Clinic in Stratford (203 690 1550) / https://www.nutmegclinic.org. We are also looking for forever homes for any kittens we can.
Both FI Conservancy and FIWMD are committing funds to the program.
This will not be an overnight fix but rather a community effort, and we ask for your understanding, awareness, and patience as individuals are setting up and working on gathering information and resources to be able to execute this plan. We are starting with some identification procedures and data collection to understand some of the challenges and opportunities, since the feral cat population is variable and impacted by multiple factors like natural selection and an increase in residents adopting kittens over the last seven years. Thank you to all who have opened your doors!
We ask that people interested in supporting this important work contact the FI Conservancy for more information and make donations for the program through the FI Conservancy at https://www.ficonservancy.org/donate/.
Anyone interested in dropping off food for the program can bring bags of dry cat food to the Transfer Station.
We want to thank our dedicated volunteers for their support in launching this renewed effort.
Anyone interested in volunteering can contact the FI Conservancy at https://www.ficonservancy.org/get-involved/
