Sterilization: Behind the scenes - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida
1. By Andrea Praegitzer, Web Producer
LEE COUNTY, FL -
Sterilization: Behind the scenes
Posted: Oct 22, 2014 7:02 PM EDT Oct 22, 2014 7:02 PM EDT
Updated: Oct 23, 2014 12:13 PM EDT Oct 23, 2014 12:13 PM EDT
Small plumes of white smoke and a smell of burning flesh escape into the air of a surgery
suite at Lee County Domestic Animal Services as vets burn tips off the ears of cats that have just been
sterilized.
One after another - nearly 40 in just one day this month - go through the line.
It starts with cats caught in cages - follows with gas and anesthesia - and ends with an inability to reproduce
into the community to control an estimated population of 110,000 feral felines already roaming the streets.
Feral cats are not acclimated to people and are generally considered unadoptable. Vet techs said if you reach
for them - they will usually try to run away and you could get scratched or bit.
Some have been bit before, so with a long pole equipped with a needle on the end, the vets jab the trapped
cats through their cages. The felines get sleepy and their loud meows begin to die down, as a pungent smell
of urine lingers from tom cats that have 'marked' inside their cages.
They are all put under anesthesia - the vets can then handle them through the sterilization process.
Ear tip removal marks the felines as having been fixed, micro-chipped and vaccinated. They can then live their
lives in the community but they won't be able to breed, get rabies and can be tracked should they return to
animal services.
This is the surgery side of the Trap Neuter Return program that started in 2009, which has helped control the
feral feline population problem, according to animal services.
"It's definitely reduced our intake of cats," said Dr. Nicole Ferguson, Lee County Domestic Animal Services
veterinarian. "It enables us to save more lives in the long run."
She said that has been to the tune of about 30 percent, common for when a TNR program is started.
Between August 1 of last year and the same time this year, 2,149 TNR surgeries were performed. In that same
time, slightly less than 1,800 cats have been euthanized and the shelter took in 4,916 cats, according to
Ferguson.
Some residents disagree about the program's effectiveness, pointing to rampant cat numbers on their
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2. street. Animal services says overall the numbers point to its success - at least when people follow the
program.
"The problem is people feed them without sterilizing them," said Ferguson. "If you're feeding cats without doing
anything else, you're really contributing to the problem."
Before TNR, the county trapped and destroyed the cats, which it deemed to be only a temporary fix. As feral
cats are removed and euthanized - a vacuum effect forms - where un-sterilized survivors breed to take
advantage of those freed up resources to create a new colony, according to animal services.
Today's TNR program often involves people who are already feeding neighborhood feral cats, and animal
services is surveying residents to improve the program and address resident concerns. Click here to
participate.
