There has been much said about control of feral cats over the years on B-A, but
there have really been no really viable answers put forward. Perhaps the answer
is sexually transmitted virus vectored immunocontraception (VVIC). With
properly engineered VVIC pathogens, there should be no collateral damage to
other species and minimal risk to domestic cats, except for the possibility of
sterility if someones moggy happens to have it away with an infected feral.
While VVIC would not result in 100% control, it would be a useful part of an
integrated control program, especially if it if followed up with other
biological control methods to limit the problem of population rebounds such as
those that have occurred with rabbit biological control methods.
If the Federal government is serious about feral cat control, VVIC is a method
that should be seriously investigated.
Here is a paper that may interest some:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2664.2000.00545.x/full
Carl Clifford
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