STRAY CATS - COSTA BLANCA SPAIN

A touchy subject for some ... AND for the rest of us - Stray Cats.

Stray Cats - Feral Cats - "Gato Callejero" here in Spain ...

	Costa Blanca Stray Cat

But what happens when they move into your street & people start to feed, house & molly coddle them ?

We live on an urbanisation .. and ever since we moved in, there has been a band of stray cats occupying the streets a couple of rows behind our house. These stray cats are fed & even have little huts built for them by some of our German residents. I only noticed this growing problem .. when the Guardamar council decided that our urbanisation should only have one rubbish collection point (which happened to be on the far side of the urbanisation). Walking up to these bins .. the street would always have about 5 or 6 stray cats lounging around, and the numbers seem to be growing. Just two weeks ago one of these stray cats had kittens in next doors garden.

Lets get this clear : (Cat lovers please turn the page .. this is going to get messy - very messy)
I'm not going to namby-pamby about my feelings on this subject - worried about what people might think - these flea ridden pests should be shot ... but I have no gun.
I am the stray cat sheriff (self appointed) ... but without the right tools to do the job.

Why this stray cat hatred ?

I have no problem with domesticated cats .. would never own one .. though seeing one in passing is no great strain on my system. But to have a gang of stray cats (apparently called a "clowder") running around outside your house is a different thing all together.

We have a bird bath come drinking pot across from the house ... which I fill every day. I have tried bird feeders (both nut and seed) but the birds here in Spain do not use these, which I find very strange. We have a bird nesting box which still has not been used .. but hopes are high for this year.

	Stray Cats in Spain

Just last year I was out one night and noticed two cats just up the road pawing something .. on closer inspection it was a young Blackbird. They were just toying with it, knocking it around before the inevitable.
Once while driving in the Guardamar Campo .. one of these stray cats walked out in front of the car ... holding a rabbit in its mouth ... I stopped the car. The cat went through a hole in the fence and into the orange tree orchard. I shouted out loud and the cat stopped in its tracks. The cat stood there staring at me and the poor rabbit hanging from its mouth was looking at me too. I picked up a large stone and threw it in the cats direction ... it tried to run and luckily the rabbit was too heavy for it .. it let go and the rabbit ran ... one up for the stray cat sheriff.

Cats eat birds - birds eat worms - dogs chase cats - lions eat zebra - dolphins eat fish - the strongest will survive ... so why get upset about it ... Mr Sheriff ?

I have a little theory buzzing around in my head. And if you look at our page about the severe lack of wildlife in the Spanish Costa Blanca ..
you will get the gist of what this theory surrounds.

This is an explosion of almighty proportion, which seems to have been left to breed and fester, and now seems out of control. I cannot find any official (or otherwise) estimated numbers for stray cats in the Costa Blanca, nor Spain ...
But I just know that the numbers will be very high ... very high indeed.

Costa Blanca Stray Cat Facts...

Costa Blanca Stray Cat "Diet" : birds, rabbits, lizards, rats, mice, large insects ...

So the prey consumed by these Costa Blanca stray cats is the staple diet of hawks, owls, foxes ... etc

	Stray Cat Feeding Station and Tree House

Because cats are active during day and night they have a great advantage over other predators of similar taste, sure only the strong survive in natures way, but the cats have the 24hr presence to weed out the weakest before other predators get the chance.
Some would point to the fact that the cats are keeping the population of rats and mice down, on the contrary, what the scarceness of prey for other predators (which are part of the natural ecology) does, is limit; or in Spain's case seem to stop those species from getting a foothold ... or even being able to survive here.
One argument often touted in defence of the stray cats, over the killing of wild birds, is the fact that the real decline in the wild bird population is down to mans destruction of the birds natural habitat, now here in Spain, I'm sorry, but that cannot possibly be used as an argument ... there is just so much wide open space without any wildlife. If you take the time to read our Costa Blanca wildlife page, it points to the fact that the only one of Spain's Costa Blanca nature reserves where you can actually see wildlife is the Santa Pola Salt Lakes .. and guess what .. (most) cats hate water .. and water is the natural habitat for the birds which can be seen here.

One BIG point to note : is that because someone is feeding stray (or domestic) cats, this does not stop the cat hunting local wildlife, even if a cat is well fed it will still hunt for prey, this instinct is inbred .. in fact a well fed cat becomes an even more capable recreational killer.

If an individual or a company introduced a pollutant into the environment affecting birds, reptiles and mammals there would be uproar, yet no one gives a hoot about the damage caused by these stray cats.

One more point to note : some of the people who feed these stray cats in urban areas, do so.. in the road underneath cars. They are so concerned for these poor creatures and their offspring, that they throw food in the road under cars beneath which the cats are hiding (from them). How STUPID can you get ??
Feed the strays in the place where most of these (urban) stray kittens will meet their end .. under the wheel of a car, give the cat and its kittens a positive experience in a very dangerous place, very clever, very caring .... a very good idea.
Close to work we had a woman from the apartment block above feeding a stray and its kittens under cars - she no longer does it. One night leaving work we spotted the cat and its kittens under our car whilst walking toward it to head off home. We got into the car and slammed the doors .. normally a sure fire "cat scatterer" .. and my wife saw "some" cats run. So, I started the car and pulled away at snails pace .. not wanting to get blood on the car tyres ... too late .. bump ... the back end lifted slightly. I reversed to see no movement whatsoever .. or I would have rolled a wheel over the kitten again (to ensure no suffering).
Episode over .. we continued home, but as soon as I turned the corner at the bottom of the road the car started making a terrible noise, the second kitten had climbed into the fan belt box. We eventually got the car home and the next day a kittens leg was lying on the plastic bumper moulding ... thinking back ... I should have presented it to the woman who was feeding the cats under the cars, as a souvenir.

One last point : it is 90%+ women feeding these stray cats ...
My brother in law has a theory .. these stray cats are "clever charmers" and have these women eating out of their paws ..

Costa Blanca Stray Cat Predators : absolutely none.

The stray cats of the Spanish Costa Blanca have no natural predators to worry about.
The life span of a Costa Blanca stray or feral cat is believed to be between 0-5 years, whereas a domestic house cat can live to approx 15 years.
The only real enemies of Spain's Costa Blanca stray cat's are disease or roadside accident ...

Spaying : removal of a female cat's ovaries and uterus.
Neutering : removal of a male cat's testicles.
The main problem with spaying or neutering a cat (domestic or stray), is that vets in Spain charge around 90 euro for this [edit - check].

There are various charity run organisation's (even here in Spain) which operate trap, spay and neuter programs for stray cats, but these are few and far between and probably under staffed and over worked. My personal view is that this would not even put a slight dent in the side of this problem .. its too far gone, would cost too much and would need a whole army of volunteers to make any impact here in the Costa Blanca of Spain.
Here is a report about the spaying & neutering of stray cats.

The female cat can have many periods of heat throughout the course of a year, spring through to late autumn. Heat periods take place every fortnight and last around 4 days. All the male cats around will be attracted to a female cat in heat, fighting over her, and the victor wins the right to mate. It takes just over 2 months for the female cat to give birth to its kittens, usually three to five kittens, the first litter usually being smaller than subsequent litters. After six or seven weeks the kittens are weaned off the mothers milk. Cats reach sexual maturity at approximately 5 to 10 months (females) and to 5 to 7 months (males). Female cats can have two or three litters per year, so can theoretically produce around 100 kittens in a breeding span averaging ten years.
So for a female stray cat (bearing in mind the reduced life span) you could say an average of around 20 kittens in its lifetime.

Conclusion : If you visited a "cluster" of feral stray cats .. lets say comprising around 10 .. and in two years time you came back to visit the cats in that same "cluster", how many cats would you expect to see ? Let me suggest and it is just a suggestion (everything is dependant - but this guess is erring on the low side) around 20, equaling an approximate doubling of that stray cat "cluster" population over two years.

OK ... that's most of the easy arguments out of the way ...

Provided that you agree there is a problem .. and I really don't think that is an issue ..
Then what is the solution to that problem ?

	Stray Kitten - Natural Born Killer

I have read a lot of info about these stray cats before writing this page, I wanted to present the facts correctly. One thing that does come across when you read some website's by (and for) cat lovers, is that they know their stuff, and they report with a calmness and chill reminiscent of a cat hunting its prey, most are usually women. They play down the impact that their feline friends have on other wildlife species, but obviously cannot ignore that it happens. They also try to pass the blame over to humans taking over the wildlife's natural habitat (I'm sorry that may be true in other countries, but not here in Spain). But they seem to forget that it is their own "supposed" cat loving creed who have caused a situation of (I think) grave consequence here in the Costa Blanca by releasing unwanted cats into the wild. So .. I would say to them .. if you want to bang on about anything .. bang a few of your co-owners heads together ... and for the sake of continued good will from non cat lovers .. YOU start coming up with ways to stop this criminal activity .. you seem to have a lot to say when people criticise your kind and your cats .. use that energy to come up with some proper & workable solutions to control Spain's stray cat population.

When the feral (stray) cat population has got out of hand in previous years in other countries, action has been taken to cull the cats ... Australia and New Zealand. I very much doubt that this could happen here in Spain, but how much further does the problem need to extend with these idiots feeding the stray cats, before drastic action is taken.

Regarding the charitable capture, castrate and neuter policy ... it is simply doomed to failure .. big time failure. The government of Spain is never going to spend the kind of money needed to accomplish such a massive task. Even if they did it would be a logistical impossibility, and these charities just do not have the resources.

You know .. some cat lovers will do their best to convince you, that if you get rid of the stray cats .. you will be plagued by rats .. So ... lets look at this point.
www.messybeast.com/cat-wildlife.htm this is an article about a report (by the UK Mammal Society) on supposed wildlife deaths caused by domestic cats in the UK.
The report supposedly charts the wildlife kills of 964 cats over a 5 month period in 1997.
"Only 162 rat kills were seen , rats fight back and killing rats is a specialised cat skill. There are cats that do specialise in rat catching, but these might have figured in the survey. The rat kills in the survey suggests that they are poor ratters, killing around 3 million rats per year - however some factory cats and stable cats can kill as many as 4 or 5 rats every night."

Here is probably a more accurate summary of the Cat / Rat debate ... Which states : "Although house cats, some dogs and other predators kill rats, they do not usually provide effective rat control".

The number of birds killed by the cats was 3,383, mice 4,196, voles 1,949 and shrews 946.

Remember this is in the UK not Spain : and the writer of the article (an avid cat lover) vehemently denies the validity of the figures : but (whatever) it is quite clear ..
Cats kill other wildlife ... FACT ...
And more to the point : cats kill the natural prey of other species.
The fact that this prey could be weak or sickly "anyway" is of little comfort to other predators which these cats are consigning to oblivion through their domination of this slice of natures food chain.
I will state this without hesitation : the sheer number of stray cats is partially to blame for the lack of some wildlife in the Costa Blanca and the rest of Spain ...
exactly how much to blame is difficult to gauge.

I would rather see owls, hawks, foxes, eagles, polecats, lizards etc ... and what about the Iberian lynx ... than scabby stray cats running around in Spain's Costa Blanca ...

there is so much open space here in Spain which shows no sign of wildlife - it is criminal.

Some Costa Blanca Stray Cat reading ... should you wish ..
both pro and anti, domestic & stray cat (mostly pro) ...

www.youcouldsavetheworld.com/cat_effect.html
www.messybeast.com/ukferal.htm
www.messybeast.com/eradicat.htm
www.messybeast.com/cat-wildlife.htm
www.squirrelsanctuary.org/cats.htm
Feral Cat Management PDF
www.reading.ac.uk/about/newsandevents/releases/PR19637.aspx
What The Cat Brought In
The Reality Of Feral Cat Colony Management

I'm going to say ... The Sheriff will have his day ... and that day is a coming.

Now where is that goddamn posse when you need them ?

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All joking apart .. lets get down to the nitty gritty.
Action Time ... what do you do if someone is feeding stray cats in Spain?

If you are living in Spain and you know of someone feeding stray cats ... in a public place ...
This document (in Spanish - from Alicante Ayuntamiento) states in Article 48 that it is illegal to feed stray cats in a public place, each Costa Blanca Ayuntamiento has a document like this. You need to get a copy of your local rules on "Sanidad" (Health) to make sure it says the same (Queda prohibido alimentar a los animales abandonados, especialmente perros, gatos y palomas, en propiedades ajenas y aquellas zonas públicas que específicamente se determinen en base a los informes técnicos, atendiendo a razones de seguridad y salud pública).
I found the Alicante document online searching for "Alicante Sanidad Ordenanzas" (Ordinances) maybe you can do the same.

THEN THE BIG STEP :
You need to decide whether or not you want to cause bad feeling between you and the person feeding the stray cats, if you live in the same area ... it can cause problems.
Every Spanish urbanisation has a "presidente" : maybe this person will help you.
You could even do it anonymously by posting a typed letter (include a copy of the Ayuntamiento law) through the persons door, and hope that they get the message.
You have to decide whether, if the person feeding the stray cats is agreeable to paying to spay and neuter the stray cats (and proves that this has been done - vet bills) and feeds them in their own private grounds, would this be a satisfactory outcome for all ?

REMEMBER : you are on the side of the law : you are doing the right thing : this person needs to be told that feeding stray cats is WRONG and feeding stray cats in a public place in Spain is ILLEGAL.
THESE ARE THE RULES SET OUT BY ALICANTE ... in English.

It is forbidden to feed stray animals, especially dogs and cats, in someone else's property and public areas, specifically those determined on the basis of technical reports, based on considerations of public health and safety. In any case, food for animals in public areas, will always use dry food, then cleaning the affected area.
Dogs and cats or other animals moving in inter-city roads devoid of collar or any identification, without being driven by a person as well as those whose owner or not under the control of the medical card or have not identified established systems, will be collected by municipal services and will precede slaughter a retention period of ten days.

Which ever way you choose - if all else fails ...
you can report to your local Ayuntamiento : who by their own law : must take action.

The stray cats will then .. more than likely .. be put down.


As for my story - The Stray Cat Sheriff ... my "tom cat" guns are back in the holster .. for now ... and
Its not .. my way or the highway .. you need to choose your own trail ...
But its one hell of a decision these so called cat lovers of Spain have left us with.