Feral feline freedom?

MOUNT PLEASANT -- For 20 years, Patsy Phipps has been a feral cat's best friend. Every day, she cares for 50 of the felines. She thinks it is wrong to trap and kill them because, in her view, they are victims of circumstances created by humans.

"People just don't get their animals spayed and neutered. It's not the cats' fault they are there. It's because we have such irresponsible pet owners," she said.

On Tuesday, Town Council is poised to join Charleston and Charleston County in a new $100,000 privately funded program that will allow the cats to roam free if they have been sterilized, vaccinated, microchipped and had a notch put in their left ear to show those things have been done.

Charleston County's recently adopted free-roaming cat ordinance would return an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 feral cats to the wild over the course of a year instead of euthanizing them.

Phipps prefers to keep the locations where she feeds the cats secret because she worries that someone will harm them or drop off an unwanted house cat. Phipps said feral cats are misunderstood. "They don't hiss and spit at you. These cats don't hunt because they are very well fed," she said.

Some say the cats are the offspring of former domestic felines that have learned to survive in the woods. Although very skittish around most humans, a bond develops between the cats and people who care for them. One of the caretakers, who asked not to be named, has spent thousands of dollars on their care and feeding.

Phipps said she recently trapped 18 cats to have them sterilized. That is considered a better approach than euthanasia by feral cat-supporters because they say that killing the cats just doesn't work. For every cat put down, more are waiting to occupy its territory, they say.

Not everyone shares that view. The state Department of Natural Resources considers the so-called "trap, neuter and release" method an unproven technique. DNR Regional Wildlife Coordinator Sam Chappelear recently told a Town Council committee that the town's proposed feral cat ordinance, like the one adopted by Charleston and Charleston County, is harmful to migratory birds.

"You won't get all the cats that are out there. It has not been proven to work anywhere else in the nation," Chappelear said. In addition to the threat to birds and other wildlife, feral cats carry disease such as roundworms, hookworms, rabies and distemper, he said.

Town Councilman John Burn has expressed concern about the trap, neuter and release approach for the same sorts of reasons. Burn said he consulted several local biologists. "Every single one of them denounce the practice," Burn said.

Supporters of the new feral cat program for Charleston, the county and the town include the Charleston Animal Society and Pet Helpers. Carol Linville, Pet Helpers president, said the trap, neuter and release method has worked on Folly Beach, where the bird population has not been adversely affected. "It's a win-win for Mount Pleasant, for the animals and for the environment," Linville said.

The initiative is funded by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In 2008, the Charleston Animal Society euthanized about 2,400 free-roaming cats. An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 of them would have qualified for the trap, neuter and release program. Cats that are unhealthy, too wild or deemed a nuisance will still be euthanized, officials said.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com.