New Film Shows Failure of Popular Stray Cat Management Program

The film highlights two examples where the technique has been used: one, at Ocean Reef, a gated, private residential community in the Florida Keys; and one at a public park in Miami. The Ocean Reef program is widely hailed as a model for TNR programs nationally, though it is quite different from most, having full-time paid staff and veterinarian care twice weekly.

Despite this huge investment in resources and restricted access to the colony by the public so that cat abandonment is limited, 500 cats continue to roam the community fifteen years after the program began. In the more typical case of A.D. Barnes Park in Miami, the cat population at the colony has grown since the TNR program run by volunteers was launched.

“A better solution is to trap, neuter, and remove feral cats, and then relocate them to enclosed cat sanctuaries or shelters, or, where possible, to adopt them out to safe and comfortable homes,” said Holmer.