Tropical Audubon Society

South Florida’s Voice of Conservation

Scanning through the archives of this board, it seems like there was a lot of concern over the Barnes cats specifically back in 2008.

What ever happened with that? In general I know the answer is nothing, because I still see plenty of cats at plenty of parks. I was just curious if there was any specific happening that resulted in the status quo being maintained.

Is TAS as an organization currently involved in any efforts to remove cats? Any efforts to see the existing laws better enforced?

A few years back there was a positive effort by the county to remove stray cats from A.D. Barnes and it was successful in thinning them out for a while.

During my stint at Barnes (between '06-'08) we caught and removed over 160 cats in a year. I know the current nature center staff has continued to catch and remove but I'm not sure what the numbers are like.

Well they better get crackin' because there are kittens with their mother there too.

The cat problem in our parks (as well as at every condo and office parking lot) is extremely frustrating. We at Tropical Audubon Society have been active for some time in taking this issue to the heads of county government. So why does this problem continue? This is a political issue. Local politicians at the county level are getting an earful from the other side. How is it that this unreasonable group gets through to the heads of county government? Unfortunately for us, the Cat Network is better organized, more passionate, and even more militant than the passive birders who are on our side. They take their passion for cats to every level; they apply tremendous pressure against the same heads of county government that we are attempting to influence. Have you ever confronted one of these cat network volunteers? They will beat you back with their uninformed views of life and their version of “love” for these lost creatures of God instead of simply taking them home (MHO). Did you see how our nationally loved Ron Magill was attacked when ZooMiami wanted to deal with the feral cats that are a threat to the health of the ZooMiami collection? The science is on our side but politicians yield to the pressure. We need to better educate the public about the laws prohibiting the dumping of cats in public places, the lack of enforcement of these laws in the parks, the failure of Trap Neuter and Release (TNR) as a solution to this problem, and the need to put the pressure on these county officials by way of public comment and demanding that our county commissioners vote accordingly.

What can we do now:
1) TAS will continue to take these issues to county officials, as we recently did when a local birder informed us of the kill he witnessed of a White-crowned Pigeon by a cat. These are important reports and we do use them when we contact these officials.
2) Record your sightings. Not bird sightings but cat sightings, including photos and please report them to us (president@tropicalaudubon.org). We will gather these reports for the next meeting that Tropical Audubon Society will soon schedule with county officials.
3) Take personal action. TAS meetings can be productive but there are no substitutes for the personal contact with your representative/commissioner (http://gisweb.miamidade.gov/countycommission/index.html?config=DistrictConfigs/Countywide.json) to let them know your thoughts regarding these feral cats at our local parks and in our neighborhoods (and encourage your neighbors to do the same). If this is done every time a cat is sighted by each birder and conservationist, then they will begin to get the message. In your message to them include your sighting and the photos. Make sure to copy Jack Kardys (kardys@miamidade.gov), Director of Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces and Alex Munoz, (alex.munoz@miamidade.gov), Director of Animal Services.
4) Join me in a meeting to form a long term plan of action, on a date to be determined.

Let’s do this,

Joe
Jose Francisco Barros, DDS
President
Tropical Audubon Society
president@tropicalaudubon.com

A feral cat survey form is available for download at http://s3.amazonaws.com/tas-website/comfy/cms/files/294/original_Tropical_Audubon_Society_Feral_Cat_Survey.pdf

Thank you Joe!

I've added a "Cats Indoors" section to the TAS citizen science page (http://www.tropicalaudubon.org/birds/citizen-science), including a link to the TAS feral cat data collection form. I've also provided a link to the American Bird Conservancy's Cats Indoors webpage, an outstanding resource for anyone concerned about the feral cat crisis.

Even in my own neighborhood, I go head to head with cat owners. Some even brag about Kitty bringing in a (dead) pretty little yellow bird. ( Obviously some kind of warbler by the description). Many of these people are extremely stubborn and sadly it's the "Treehuggers" versus the " Cat Huggers" in these circumstances. There is also a feral cat population at the Falls Shopping Center and people dump cat food every where ( which also attracts rats).