VOX. (2024, January 24). Hawaii’s out-of-control, totally bizarre fight over stray cats. Retrieved January 25, 2024, from https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/24041534/hawaii-cats-invasive-species-extinction   

 

In the US State of Hawaii, where many native species have gone extinct, stray cats have been thriving easily since the 1700s when they arrived on ships. Nowadays there are many cats in Hawaii, many of which also were or descended from abandoned pets. The reason these cats are able to thrive so well in Hawaii is because they have no natural predators, and plenty of prey that have not adapted to surviving against cats as predators. Cats also reproduce quickly. What many Hawaiian locals do with good intentions is feed groups of cats called colonies, with one local being the “colony manager”. They also protect stray cats in other ways like providing them with shade and water dishes. This has sparked a large debate between those who help or are in favor of helping the stray cats(like animal welfare activists) since it is not their fault they live in Hawaii and should not suffer, and those who think doing such is wrong as it supports harming native wildlife. Many people who support the cats are not anti-native wildlife however, they think that by keeping the cats fed, they will not eat as many native species. Also, many of these people like to ethically trap the cats, neuter them, and then release them back. These methods are unrealistic as there are not enough resources to trap and neuter cats to make it work effectively, especially since they are not fenced up. Also, many scientists are speaking out against feeding the cats as it might not even work because of their instincts. However, the ethics of killing off an entire cat population would also be extremely unethical. This has left the debate between the two sides without a conclusion regarding the already stray cats. However, we are close to a solution regarding preventing new stray cats from coming into Hawaii and reproducing, and that is by requiring cat owners to neuter their cats.

I find this situation interesting since people place a separate standard on cats than other animals like invasive wild boars in terms of the ethics of lowering their populations. This is because when I researched California’s invasive boar problem, the solution most people did not oppose was to basically hunt them all off. However, with cats(which are less intelligent than pigs), none of the solutions that were being proposed were to get rid of them. This is likely due to the same reason that Westerners call cat meat unethical but will not bat an eye when it comes to pork, they are more used to keeping them as companions. Now I am not saying that we should kill off all the cats, especially since if we do a hunting program there will not be many uses for the dead cats, however, I do feel like people are treating the cats like royalty and thinking that they basically have the right to be in Hawaii. I think what should be done is ban all cat breeders from breeding cats, and all cats from the mainland from coming to Hawaii to be sold. Then, the only cats available for pets in Hawaii would be stray ones that have been captured and taken into shelters, which can be made in large amounts if each cat costs money to adopt, and the shelters use that money to build more shelters. As the demand for pet cats gets higher, more and more feral cats will be caught and put up for adoption. Once somebody adopts a cat, they should also be legally required to neuter them. This solution will not only make the cats have better lives than in the streets but also will protect Hawaii’s native species by reducing Hawaii’s growing feral cat population.