Shelter releases 1,000 feral cats on to Chicago streets to combat rat crisis

[MaryP]

The initiative places two to three cats, all spayed, neutered and vaccinated, outside of residences and businesses to sustainably deal with Chicago’s rodent problem.

Oh. It sounded as if they were strategically placing them at certain places.

 

[MaryP]

Those are children playing with video games, not rats. GFY

Good to know. Hate those video games, but that's another thread.

 

[beefheart]

I'd release some rat terriers, bedlington terriers, Irish terriers, and some westhighland terriers. They can go in and just kill all night, its what they are bred for.

 

[jamesrage]

I can see some very fat feral cats in a few weeks. Rats are rich in protein.I had a 10 pound tabby who would leave their livers on the garage porch after a night of hunting, which is what cats do. Apparently cats find the livers to be distasteful.

I lived in a charming stone house in NJ. The drier vent had gotten disconnected & a rat came in, unaware that I was sitting & watching as it strutted in, bold as hell. It started when it saw me reflex & hid in the open door to the furnace room. I got a big trap & a chunk of smelly cheese & stuck it in that room. It must have lasted close to 2 weeks before it made a grab for that cheese & wound up with a broken neck. It had become a very skinny rat but it was very dead.

The tabby might have been leaving you a gift. Cats like to share part of the prey with their humans. Just be glad she didn't leave the rat livers on your pillow.

Why Does Your Cat Bring You Dead Animals?

Cats possess a natural instinct to hunt prey, as well as share their catch with loved ones, which can result in a "gift" of a dead animal for owners.

www.thesprucepets.com

Cats are born to hunt. Even if domesticated cats know they don’t need to catch their own food to survive, they cannot resist the urge and often enjoy the hunt and chase. Some cats that catch prey will bring their owners the dead animals—or, perhaps even more unpleasantly, sometimes ones that are still alive—to show off their prized catch for later consumption, as a teaching aid, or as a gift.

Additionally, cats are pack animals, and they often want to share their bounty with their family. This is especially true of female cats who would normally teach their young how to hunt and eat. This means when a cat brings you an animal they caught, be it alive or dead, they consider you a part of their family. Their instincts are telling them this is what they need to do to survive and that they need to pass these important, life-saving skills onto their family.

This prey-catching behavior has nothing to do with being hungry. Rather, the “prey” being caught by indoor cats often isn’t edible at all, but rather toy mice, balls, and garbage they felt that they “hunted.” These items may also be presented to you as gifts, even though they are inedible.

 

[Decypher]

The tabby might have been leaving you a gift. Cats like to share part of the prey with their humans. Just be glad she didn't leave the rat livers on your pillow.

Why Does Your Cat Bring You Dead Animals?

Cats possess a natural instinct to hunt prey, as well as share their catch with loved ones, which can result in a "gift" of a dead animal for owners.

www.thesprucepets.com

Cats are born to hunt. Even if domesticated cats know they don’t need to catch their own food to survive, they cannot resist the urge and often enjoy the hunt and chase. Some cats that catch prey will bring their owners the dead animals—or, perhaps even more unpleasantly, sometimes ones that are still alive—to show off their prized catch for later consumption, as a teaching aid, or as a gift.

Additionally, cats are pack animals, and they often want to share their bounty with their family. This is especially true of female cats who would normally teach their young how to hunt and eat. This means when a cat brings you an animal they caught, be it alive or dead, they consider you a part of their family. Their instincts are telling them this is what they need to do to survive and that they need to pass these important, life-saving skills onto their family.

This prey-catching behavior has nothing to do with being hungry. Rather, the “prey” being caught by indoor cats often isn’t edible at all, but rather toy mice, balls, and garbage they felt that they “hunted.” These items may also be presented to you as gifts, even though they are inedible.

My cat regularly brings me dead birds and mice. Not too pleasant but easy to deal with. The live pigeons though are a different matter. Quite hard to catch them and get them out of the house.

 

[Phys251]

Shelter releases 1,000 feral cats on to Chicago streets to combat rat crisis

Program called Cats at Work places two or three felines outside residences and businesses to deal with rodent problem

www.theguardian.com

Program called Cats at Work places two or three felines outside residences and businesses to deal with rodent problem

An animal shelter in Chicago has released 1,000 feral cats throughout the city to combat a rat crisis.

Through a program called Cats at Work, the Tree House Humane Society, a local animal shelter, releases feral felines on to city streets. The initiative places two to three cats, all spayed, neutered and vaccinated, outside of residences and businesses to sustainably deal with Chicago’s rodent problem.




Cat jumps from fifth-floor of burning Chicago building, bounces once and runs away
Read more
The cats are animals that “would not thrive in a shelter or home environment” and are usually subject to long stays in animal control centers or euthanization, according to the non-profit’s website.
====================================================================
Interesting way to turn a burden into an asset. But it could be considered biological warfare: releasing one species to eat another.

What could possibly go wrong.

Roaming Cats Pose Big Threat to Bird Populations, Study Finds

Many cat owners are familiar with the 'presents' that feline friends leave on doorsteps after a night on the prowl -- a bird's head or a dead mouse. But all those cats have a big cumulative effect, killing anywhere from 500 million to a billion birds every year, according to estimates from the...

abcnews.go.com

 

[Sagittarius83]

I can see some very fat feral cats in a few weeks. Rats are rich in protein. I had a 10 pound tabby who would leave their livers on the garage porch after a night of hunting, which is what cats do. Apparently cats find the livers to be distasteful.

I lived in a charming stone house in NJ. The drier vent had gotten disconnected & a rat came in, unaware that I was sitting & watching as it strutted in, bold as hell. It started when it saw me reflex & hid in the open door to the furnace room. I got a big trap & a chunk of smelly cheese & stuck it in that room. It must have lasted close to 2 weeks before it made a grab for that cheese & wound up with a broken neck. It had become a very skinny rat but it was very dead.

I was forced to eat liver as a child. It is the grossest meat of them all so the cats have more good sense than my mother.

 

[Utility Man]

The local cat colony here is awesome, they definitely help keep the rodents in check.

Can't say the rabbits and squirrels like the cats much, but the birds for the most part seem to be doing just fine.

 

[JacksinPA]

I can see some very fat feral cats in a few weeks. Rats are rich in protein. I had a 10 pound tabby who would leave their livers on the garage porch after a night of hunting, which is what cats do. Apparently cats find the livers to be distasteful.

I was forced to eat liver as a child. It is the grossest meat of them all so the cats have more good sense than my mother.

I, too, hate liver but the cold cuts that my parents bought included liverwurst. Didn't mind that because I had no idea where it came from.

 

[dirtpoorchris]

Im ok with this ONLY if they promise to never kill the cats. Its ****ed up to force them to work for you. Force their non-breeding for your convenience. Then after they are done cleaning up your mess just recollect them all and return them to the kill-your-pet line would be pretty wrong to do. If they are going to add the cats in they should become a permanent thing and now the city can be known as the cat city if you are going to abuse them like that for your convenience.

 

[dirtpoorchris]

The local cat colony here is awesome, they definitely help keep the rodents in check.

Can't say the rabbits and squirrels like the cats much, but the birds for the most part seem to be doing just fine.

Believe it or not cats can only catch the "really slow and dumb birds" so they are kinda making them more fit by allowing cats around. My cat only catches the really really oblivious dumb lazy birds that dont even look for danger.

 

[Sagittarius83]

I, too, hate liver but the cold cuts that my parents bought included liverwurst. Didn't mind that because I had no idea where it came from.

Yeah, liverwurst isn’t as bad.

I have also noticed that dogs love liver so I say save it all for dog food.

 

[dirtpoorchris]

Chicago has a lot or rats for sure!

Those all look like toy guns to me. It looks like their may even be a lense on the front of the toy guns. Sure you are not calling a bunch black kids getting ready to play lazer tag a bunch of rats? Have you ever seen a real gun with sights and barrels like that? Way to call a bunch of kids playing with toy guns subhumans... You win the racist prize.

 

[dirtpoorchris]

Those are children playing with video games, not rats. GFY

Right! 1 glance and I could tell those were toy guns and a bunch of kids at some public event. This dude should be banned for being a racist already in my opinion.

White kids playing in an airsoft tournament = kids
Black kids playing with toy guns = rat

We sure know where this dude stands.

 

[ecofarm]

That'll be the end of birds in Chicago. I'm sure the authorizing officials know this.

 

[dirtpoorchris]

I think in order to keep those cats hanging around your yard, you probably have to feed them something. I agree with you; my cat is very well fed and there's never been a mouse in this house she didn't chase down.

A hungry cat wont really "chase" a mouse well they just sit there quietly and pounce on it when it walks by. Its almost impossible to catch it by chasing. Chickens/roosters on the other hand are REALLY good at chasing mice.

 

[Juks]

I'd release some rat terriers, bedlington terriers, Irish terriers, and some westhighland terriers. They can go in and just kill all night, its what they are bred for.

Your idea might be much better if those cats are anything like mine. I have 3 cats, only one of them takes rats, the other two only takes birds or mices. Rats are both aggressive(they attack when threatened) and bigger, escpecially city rats (due to plenty of food) I seen some,when walking home late at night(or early morning) that was as big as my biggest cat (not joking)

 

[lurchadams]

Shelter releases 1,000 feral cats on to Chicago streets to combat rat crisis

Program called Cats at Work places two or three felines outside residences and businesses to deal with rodent problem

www.theguardian.com

Program called Cats at Work places two or three felines outside residences and businesses to deal with rodent problem

An animal shelter in Chicago has released 1,000 feral cats throughout the city to combat a rat crisis.

Through a program called Cats at Work, the Tree House Humane Society, a local animal shelter, releases feral felines on to city streets. The initiative places two to three cats, all spayed, neutered and vaccinated, outside of residences and businesses to sustainably deal with Chicago’s rodent problem.




Cat jumps from fifth-floor of burning Chicago building, bounces once and runs away
Read more
The cats are animals that “would not thrive in a shelter or home environment” and are usually subject to long stays in animal control centers or euthanization, according to the non-profit’s website.
====================================================================
Interesting way to turn a burden into an asset. But it could be considered biological warfare: releasing one species to eat another.

They ought to release them at Maralago.. I hear there's one huge one there!

 

[dirtpoorchris]

Your idea might be much better if those cats are anything like mine. I have 3 cats, only one of them takes rats, the other two only takes birds or mices. Rats are both aggressive(they attack when threatened) and bigger, escpecially city rats (due to plenty of food) I seen some,when walking home late at night(or early morning) that was as big as my biggest cat (not joking)

Some rats have incredibly good kung fu. And the cats claws arent enough to kill the rat. So when the cat goes to bite the rat alot of times the rat will jump and bite the cats face. You need a REAL badass alpha cat that goes in full speed and understands how to dismantle the rats defense. Alot of cats will go after a giant rat once or twice then run away.

 

[dirtpoorchris]

This is pretty nasty. Dogs and minks hunting and killing rats so dont click you you hate watching gory nature shows. But they are pretty damn good at it.


need some sorta drone to scare them out of the sewer systems. Suprised they dont use a BB gun drone operator to clean the sewers out, prolly dont wanna get sued when he shoots some homeless guy.

 

[beefheart]

Your idea might be much better if those cats are anything like mine. I have 3 cats, only one of them takes rats, the other two only takes birds or mices. Rats are both aggressive(they attack when threatened) and bigger, escpecially city rats (due to plenty of food) I seen some,when walking home late at night(or early morning) that was as big as my biggest cat (not joking)

I've had 2 Irish terriers, they are brutal. They kill rats.

 

[Sagittarius83]

This is pretty nasty. Dogs and minks hunting and killing rats so dont click you you hate watching gory nature shows. But they are pretty damn good at it.


need some sorta drone to scare them out of the sewer systems. Suprised they dont use a BB gun drone operator to clean the sewers out, prolly dont wanna get sued when he shoots some homeless guy.

The problem here is mice and cats are extremely good at catching them.

But big rats are dog business. Sadly a big rat can and will kill a cat so watching these dogs in action is very satisfying.

I simply despise rats!

 

[JacksinPA]

The problem here is mice and cats are extremely good at catching them.

But big rats are dog business. Sadly a big rat can and will kill a cat so watching these dogs in action is very satisfying.

I simply despise rats!

One possible solution to the rat problem: broadcast large quantities of bait laced with a chemical to sterilize either one or both sexes. I'm sure this is not a novel idea. Bit it would work over a period of time that might not be OK. And it would likely sterilize the feral cats that eat the affected rats, which might cut down on the number of feral cats at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone.

 

[JacksinPA]

One possible solution to the rat problem: broadcast large quantities of bait laced with a chemical to sterilize either one or both sexes. I'm sure this is not a novel idea. Bit it would work over a period of time that might not be OK. And it would likely sterilize the feral cats that eat the affected rats, which might cut down on the number of feral cats at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone.

The cats part doesn't work that way because I understand that they are sterilized to start with.

 

[bearpoker]

The livers from dead rats is bad enough. I can't see a cat leaving a dead rat in an alley unless its already had a few as appetizers.

I've had several cats that enjoyed hunting, but didn't eat their kills. They were in it for the sport.