1. laelaps
  2. The LAPD gets some help from feral cats

The LAPD gets some help from feral cats

By laelaps on January 14, 2008.

While my post about feral cats from last week might be a bit controversial to some, the LAPD is getting some help from from feral cats with a rat problem. According to the Los Angeles Times, there are a number of places in LA with rat and mice problems, and an animal rescue group has placed a number of feral cats at police stations with rat/mice infestations in order to help solve the problem. The cats don't catch and kill the mice and rats as much as drive them out of the area, it seems, but it still presents a benefit to both the cats (which might have otherwise been destroyed) and the policemen. The rescue group and the police both want the cats to stay wary of people, but should a cat start to become accustomed to people and friendly they are removed and put up for adoption, a "wilder" cat taking their place. This program has been going on for as long as six years in some stations and has been enough of a success for the rescue group to consider recolonizing some feral cats in other areas where rat and mice problems persist (although if the cats evicting rather than killing most of the rats, I wonder where the rats will go in attempts to find a new home).

If you'd like to know more about the "working" feral cat program, click here. Hat-tip to Tracey.

Tags
Cats

More like this

To Catch A Cat, You Need To Fry A Chicken
Whether you're a dog, a cat, or a grad student who hasn't been home to shower for a few days, fleas are a major problem. They make skin itch. And NOTHING is worse than itchy skin. But... Do you know WHERE the fleas are? Where they like to hang out and guard their little flea eggs? Where's the…
Useful graphic: disparity in the number of single men and women by city
What an astonishingly useful graphic (click to enlarge, source): Richard Florida (author of one of the most interesting books I have ever read) comments on the gender disparity in singles: By far, the best places for single men are the large cities and metro areas of the East Coast and Midwest.…
More Evidence of LTP in vivo
I wrote earlier this week about evidence from electrode arrays that LTP occurs in vivo in behaving rats ("Rats, you behave!"). The paper showed that if you use an avoidance learning paradigm you can detect LTP in the hippocampus after one trial. The paper does not, however, necessarily prove that…
Different neuron networks control fear of different threats
If you wanted to turn a rat into a fearless critter, unfazed by cats or bigger rats, the best way would be to neutralise a small pair of tiny structures in its brain called the dorsal premammillary nuclei, orPMD. According to new research by Simone Motta at the University of Sao Paolo, these small…

"Feral" sounds, well, ferocious. Back on the farm (in Kansas) we just called 'em "barn cats".

By Matt Platte (not verified) on 14 Jan 2008 #permalink

I wonder where the rats will go in attempts to find a new home

They will go some other place that already has a presumably full occupancy of rats, of course, and thus cause some overcrowding at this other place, which will (should, or at least might) in future stabilize back down to its pre-feral-cat-program levels.

So nimby rats are as good as dead rats. Maybe.

Did you see the recent story in the NYT about how cats are largely responsible for keeping the city's bodegas and small delis rodent-free? The health department wants the cats gone, but most bodega owners say they can have the kitties when they pry them from their cold, dead hands.

I hope the cats are properly vaccinated and neutered ?

By Christophe Thill (not verified) on 15 Jan 2008 #permalink