Aplan to reduce or eliminate the population of stray cats in Mackinaw City has been reviewed by the village Safety Committee, following a presentation by Tom Bauer of the Cheboygan County Humane Society Thursday, May 17. A new, humane method of reducing cat populations has been developed, consisting of trapping and neutering them, and Mr. Bauer has been promoting the idea in area communities.

The Safety Committee will make no recommendations to the Village Council regarding whether to adopt a cat-reduction project, said member Jeff Hingston, who expects the idea to be taken up by the full Village Council in the near future. Adopting the new concept may require forming a new committee to organize volunteers, solicit donations, and coordinate free or reduced-cost operations by area veterinarians.

Controlling feral cat populations reduces the chance that domestic cats will catch illnesses from strays, said Mr. Bauer in his proposal to the board. Curtailing the population would benefit the village, which relies on a healthy image to keep tourists coming to the area, he said.

Mackinaw City deals with about 10 to 15 stray cats annually, Village Manager Jeff Lawson said. Over the years, homes have been found for some of them, but most have been turned over to Cheboygan County Animal Control.

The concept, called trap/neuter/ return, has significantly reduced populations of homeless cats in other parts of the country, Mr. Bauer said, notably Atlantic City, New Jersey. Homeless cats establish territories, so the program calls on volunteers to locate them, trap the cats, have them spayed or neutered, and return the animals to the areas where they were found. The idea is to target "colonies" of stray cats for treatment. Dumpsters are a good place to look for such colonies, he added.

The current practice in the county is to hold feral cats at animal shelters and then euthanize them, a process that costs about $100 per animal, Mr. Bauer said. The neutering alternative would cost about $30 per animal.

Simply removing cats leaves a void that is eventually filled by new cats. By returning them, the strays continue to defend their territories, but they don't reproduce, so the population naturally declines, Mr. Bauer explained.

In Atlantic City, the stray cat population was reduced by 70% in three years.

The plan calls for humane treatment of cats. In areas where the trap/neuter/return project is in place, volunteers provide one meal a day for the animals that are returned to the neighborhood. That has to be paid for, he said, but it reduces animal suffering, allows the cats to live out a natural life, and decreases the population of unwanted animals in keeping with the mission of the Humane Society.

Often, people take pity on feral animals and feed them, he said, but do not have them spayed or neutered, resulting in mini-population explosions. The new program "involves volunteer caregivers as part of the solution, not the problem," according to a Humane Society publication Mr. Bauer handed out at the meeting.

The permanent reduction of cat populations also reduces impact on wildlife.

Volunteers have been easy to find in areas using such programs, Mr. Bauer said, and in some cases, volunteers designated a weekend, trapped dozens of cats at once, had them spayed or neutered, and returned them. The process of creating active citizen groups to tackle the problem tends to generate interest in other projects that help animals, he said. In areas where the program is in place, awareness of animal adoption increases, for example.

If a decision is made to pursue the plan in Mackinaw City, Village President Robert Heilman said representatives from Emmet and Cheboygan counties should be involved. Mr. Heilman cited the potential cost of transporting the animals to veterinarians.

The Humane Society will assist Mackinaw City, Mr. Bauer said, if the council chooses to pursue the project.