feral cats.

Jesse Oldham When Jesse Oldham moved to Brooklyn, NY in 2003 she had no idea that she would become a driving force behind New York City's movement to protect its feral cat population. Feral cats are a particular challenge as they are not domesticated and often live their entire lives outside. Most will not allow a human to touch them, or even make eye contact. Those who do go to shelters will usually be deemed "unadoptable" and euthanized so it takes special consideration to care for them. In addition to running her own nonprofit feral cat protection and advocacy organization, Slope Street Cats (2004-2009), she's since worked extensively with the NYC Feral Cat Initiative including teaching ...

Alberto E. Rodriguez, WireImage.com Mike Tyson is entering the realm of reality TV. This doesn't surprise us one iota. Nor does it surprise us that there has been some controversy. What does surprise us is that the show will be on Animal Planet and is based on pigeons. Yes, really. Not every dog lays around all day, waiting for you to come home. Take Rosie the Newfie, for example. When her neighbor became seriously ill, she found a way to lend a paw and give a dying woman a reason to smile by leaping a fence to visit the sick neighbor every single day. And her owners had no idea. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are really doing their part to make tails wag across the country. Ellen ...

Flickr/parhessiastes The city of Los Angeles has been barred from subsidizing a trap-neuter-release program for feral cats, the Los Angeles Times reports. A Superior Court judge sided with the Audubon Society and other bird and wildlife groups who opposed the city's support of such a program, which they say isn't effective at controlling the feral cat population. According to the American Bird Conservancy (one of the plaintiffs in the case), this type of TNR program "turns cats loose so they can continue to kill birds. Scientists estimate that owned and feral domestic cats are responsible for up to one billion bird deaths each year, perhaps the single largest ongoing cause of avian ...

Feral For Life Shirt, $25. Photo: FeralforLife.com Now that you know all there is to know about feral cats and TNR, why not go help some of the ferals in your neighborhood? The Humane Society of the United States offers state by state feral cat and trap-neuter-return resources. The ASPCA has a FAQs page dedicated to everything you need to know about ferals and trap-neuter-return. Alley Cat Allies provides information on feral cats, trap-neuter-return, and how to caretake a colony of ferals. The New York City Feral Cat Initiative has tips on how to socialize feral kittens, including some great hands on video tutorials, recorded webinars covering everything from how to get ...

Marc Maron Photo: Resilient.Rabbit/Flickr When it comes to feral cats, there are those who do nothing, those who trap-neuter-return, and then there's Marc Maron. Maron, who is well known from his stand-up appearances on "The Late Show with David Letterman," and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," has kept feral cats as pets for five years. His fans are familiar with them through the stories he's told on his radio shows for Air America; in his act (including an extended bit on his most recent comedy album, "Final Engagement"); and on the new podcast he launched on September 1, "WTF with Marc Maron." In honor of National Feral Cat Day, Maron spoke with Paw Nation about some of the challenges ...

Photo: zenobia_joy, Flickr So, you've found a cat in your area, what do you do? First, determine if it's a feral or a stray. The easiest way to do so is to put some food down near you and see what happens. If the cat comes bounding over and doesn't mind eating next to you, or for that matter, being touched by you, you've got a friendly stray cat. If the cat bolts and won't come near you no matter how much tuna you've put on the plate, you probably have a feral. Other signs you have a feral: they don't make a sound and they only come out at night. Trapping a feral cat and taking it to a shelter will lead to automatic euthanasia, so Trap-Neuter-Return is your best option. Alley Cat ...