— by Michele Metych-Wiley
In the last five years, there have been more than 30 reality TV shows set in Alaska. Many of these spotlight—intentionally or accidentally—the storied, exotic wildlife in the state and the way humans interact with it. There are grizzly bears, black bears, moose, ptarmigan, lynxes, wolves, whales, and a host of other critters.
None of these shows have focused on another animal that’s just as ubiquitous in Alaska as it is the rest of the country: the feral cat. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that there may be as many as 50 million feral cats in the country. A feral cat is an undomesticated outdoor cat or a stray or abandoned cat that has reverted to a wild state. Truly feral cats will never be amenable to living with humans. Feral cats can be born or made: animals reproduce indiscriminately if left unchecked. But often the problem starts with people failing to spay and neuter their pets and allowing them to roam or abandoning them. Feral cats form groups called colonies, and each colony adopts a territory. It’s not surprising that they’re found even in Alaska’s rugged clime.
What is surprising is that the state that has both an unofficial cat mayor and a tradition of working to live in harmony with its wildlife—a necessity given the overlap of humans into animals’ habitats—also has a feral cat problem and a reluctance to embrace the solution. continue reading…