This blog provides scientific facts, information and research regarding the growing spread of toxoplasmosis in our communities - and to our children, particularly in unprotected play areas. Over one third of the world's population is infected, and more than 60 million Americans, The US CDC states this "neglected parasite" is the second leading killer of food borne diseases.
Brian Monk is a veterinarian, birder, photographer, and professional orchid grower and lecturer. He received his DVM from Virginia Tech in 1997 and currently resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Floirida, with his wife Mary-Margaret and his 5 rescued cats.
Let me make myself perfectly clear: I love cats. I am a veterinarian, quite a few of my patients are cats, and I count five of them as my pets. I believe that cats have an inherent value to us, both as living things and as companions. I also love birds, and have been watching them before I was old enough to know what they were. Without question, birds also have inherent value, both to our planet and our hobby. My position as both a birder and a veterinarian lends me a unique perspective about the current controversy surrounding feral cats, and the various solutions offered up to address this issue.
A recent study has determined that 1.4-3.7 billion birds are killed by feral cats per year, and its publication has pitted wildlife conservation groups against feline advocacy groups. The controversy centers around the most important question, “What is the solution to this problem of cat overpopulation?” The only thing that these two groups seem to agree on is that feral cat overpopulation exists.
Feral cats lead short and brutal lives. Kittens suffer a 50-75% mortality rate. Disease is prevalent in feral cat populations, as expected. They are plagued with parasitism by various worms, arthropods, and protozoa; viral diseases like Feline Leukemia, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, Herpes, Distemper, and Rabies; bacterial infections such as Toxoplasmosis, and Haemobartonellosis. Traumatic injury is common. Feral cats suffer....
Doctor's Professional Comprehensive Conclusions
This problem of feral cats is a difficult one. Although it is only a part of the greater question of avian conservation, it is obviously an important part. Further, it seems to be a part where real progress could be made, with benefits that are not so vague as biodiversity for biodiversity’s sake.
Improving feline health in general, while keeping our precious wildlife safe, is a noble goal, that we can only approach ignobly. Feral cats exist because of man’s ego and carelessness. But TNR does not adequately address the issue. It does not ease feline suffering or eliminate feline predation on our wildlife to a point that is acceptable, to me as a veterinarian and a conservationist, or to anyone else who considers the facts.
As difficult as it may be, the elimination of feral cats via Trap and Euthanasia is the only truly viable solution.
PIP COURTNEY, PRESENTER: Australia's native wildlife is disappearing at an alarming rate and the feral cat is the chief culprit.
But they're now also affecting sheep farmers in Tasmania. The cats are carrying diseases which are being passed on to flocks, with disastrous consequences.
And as Ginny Stein reports, the Federal Government has announced a 10-year plan to effectively eradicate feral cats.
GINNY STEIN, REPORTER: Northern Tasmania - and Bruce Young has company. A trap was set last night and a deadly animal has been caught. This is it.
KEVIN KNOWLES: It's in good condition, no.
BRUCE YOUNG, SHEEP FARMER: Yes, looks like.
KEVIN KNOWLES: Healthy cat.
GINNY STEIN: This killer, one of an estimated 20 million currently roaming across Australia, is now on death row.
BRUCE YOUNG: I don't want to get bitten or scratched. While this caged feline may look like your average domestic cat, it's certainly not.
KEVIN KNOWLES, UPPER MEANDER LANDCARE GROUP: It's quiet now. It's just the aggression from the cat. Somebody's house cat will just sit in the trap quietly, wants to be let out. These things explode. READ Or Watch MORE
September 2012. A new study in the USA has found that free-roaming cats pose a threat from "serious public health diseases" to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife.
"This is a significant study that documents serious wildlife and public health issues associated with 125 million outdoor cats in the United States. Decision-making officials need to start looking at the unintended impacts these animals have on both the environment and human health when they consider arguments to sanction Trap, Neuter, and Return (TNR) cat colonies. These colonies are highly detrimental to cats, wildlife, and people, and only serve to exacerbate the cat overpopulation problem," said Darin Schroeder, Vice President for Conservation Advocacy at American Bird Conservancy.
Among the key findings of the paper are:
Free roaming cats are an important source of animal-transmitted, serious diseases such as rabies, toxoplasmosis, and plague.
Free roaming cats account for the most cases of human rabies exposure among domestic animals, and are the source for one-third of rabies post-exposure treatments in the United States. Because of inconsistent incident reporting, that number is likely an underestimate of the actual cases of rabies exposure.
Trap, neuter, and release (TNR) programs may lead to increased, un-inoculated populations of cats that can serve as a source of transmittable serious diseases.
The study found that since 1988, rabies has been detected more frequently in cats than in dogs; in 2008, the number of cats detected with rabies was four times higher than dogs. In 2010, rabies cases declined for all domestic animals except cats, which comprised 62 percent of all rabies cases for domestic animals.
According to the study, which cites numerous specific examples of rabies exposures from cats, ".......human exposure to rabies is largely associated with free-roaming cats because of people being more likely to come into contact with cats, [the existence of] large free-roaming cat populations and lack of stringent rabies vaccination programs."
TNR
Importantly, the study also seems to directly contradict notions that TNR programs lead to smaller sizes of cat colonies and that they pose no health risk. Those programs purport to capture all the cats in a colony, neuter and vaccinate them, and return them to a colony that is fed by volunteers.
"....neutered groups (colonies) increased significantly compared to [sexually] intact groups because of higher immigration and lower emigration. .........sexually intact adult cats immigrated into the neutered groups at a significantly higher rate than [they did to the] sexually intact group. .........immigrating sexually intact females had increased fertility along with increased survivorship of kittens as a population compensation response to neutered individuals."
The authors report that the data suggest that neutered cat groups act as an attractant of sexually intact free-roaming cats, thus negating the belief that TNR programs lead to decreases in free-roaming cat populations. This attraction and subsequent movement of unneutered and un-inoculated cats into cat colonies "...may severely limit the protection offered by vaccination of TNR processed cats and would not abate the [transmittable disease] threat of rabies in these groups."
The report also cited the dangers associated with TNR feeding stations in attracting raccoons, skunks, foxes, and other wild animals associated with rabies. The feeding stations not only increase the likelihood of contact between humans and rabies-exposed animals, they also increase the human and wildlife exposure to a potentially fatal parasite, raccoon roundworm, harboured by raccoons that is being seen in ever-increasing parts of the country. The danger to wildlife was illustrated in a 2008 study that found that five Florida panthers were killed as a result of a single such infected cat.
Acute toxoplasmosis
Another significant disease threat cited by the study concerns is a parasite frequently found in water or soil contaminated by cat faeces. This parasite is responsible for causing the disease toxoplasmosis. Consequences of contracting this parasitic infection are most serious if you are either pregnant, HIV positive, or are undergoing chemo-therapy treatment, and range from significant to severe to fatal. The report cited a 2011 study that found that 63 percent of the patients with acute toxoplasmosis had become infected through cat faeces.
The authors conclude by saying that their study "...highlights the serious public health diseases associated with free-roaming cats and underscores the need for increased public health attention directed towards free-roaming cats." The fact that rabies exposure in humans is disproportionately associated with free-roaming cats "...should be of paramount concern to health officials because of the high mortality rate of clinical rabies..."
The study was published in the peer-reviewed public health journal, Zoonoses and Public Health.
The paper was authored by R.W. Gerhold of the University of Tennessee's Center for Wildlife Health, Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, and by D.A. Jessup, retired from the California Department of Fish and Game.
Your assistance is much appreciated, and "Please Tweet" - #ToxoTO - to register your support. Let's get make our sandlots and playgrounds safe for our children. Thanks.
A recent study has determined that 1.4-3.7 billion birds are killed by feral cats per year, and its publication has pitted wildlife conservation groups against feline advocacy groups. The controversy centers around the most important question, “What is the
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