They released thousands of cats on the street, and the reason that they did it is something that you might just find to be ingenious!
We’ll just cut to the chase here. It’s not every day that a major United States city has decided to release feral cats within its jurisdiction. However, Chicago was one city that decided to do this, and part of the reason for that is because there have been literally millions and millions of rodents within the borders of the Windy City.
Indeed, this is such a problem that this Midwestern city has even been named the rodent capital of the United States for the sixth year in a row. Thus, these feral cats have been released to stop the spread of these rats due to the fact that they continue to appear in the city’s alleyways and sidewalks, much to the chagrin of the residents.
The Tree House Humane Society is the animal shelter that is helping release these cats into the city’s streets. They have made sure that all of the cats are neutered before allowing the felines to patrol the city streets in search of the rats. Moreover, the shelter made it a point to select cats that “wouldn’t be able to thrive in a home or shelter environment’ as well as cats that “are not able to be reintegrated into their former colonies.”
Instead of attempting to re-home these cats or just putting them down, these cats are going to be put to good use in helping the city of Chicago cut down on their extremely noticeable rodent problem. It’s a shame that they can’t find a good candidate to knock off the rodent that occupies city hall, but I digress.
The shelter added: “Cats are placed two or three at a time into residential or commercial settings in order to provide environmentally friendly rodent control. Property and business owners provide food, water, shelter, and wellness to the cats who work for them. In most cases, our Cats at Work become beloved members of the family or team, and some even have their own Instagram pages.”
The pest control firm Orkin ranked Chicago as one of the leading metropolitan areas for rat infestations. This group identified the city as one of the worst by calculating how many new rodent treatments had to be performed between September 2019 and August 2020.
Shelter spokesperson Sarah Liss said: “We’ve had a lot of our clients tell us that before they had cats, they would step outside their house, and rats would actually run across their feet.”
Interestingly enough, the feral cats will not just attack the rats and feed on them either. The cats “are actually deterring them with their pheromones.” She added, “That’s enough to keep the rats away.”
In the 1970s, Chicago had such a terrible problem with rats that residents were being offered $1 for every rodent that they could prove they killed. Fast forward today, and we have the coronavirus to contend with, and the lockdowns were forcing restaurants and businesses to close their doors, enabling the rats to become more aggressive. The problem with rats in the Windy City became even more pronounced since it was already an issue anyway.
Things have gotten so bad this go-round in the United States that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an advisory warning regarding “aggressive rodent behavior.”
The advisory stated, “Community-wide closures have led to a decrease in food available to rodents, especially in dense commercial areas. Some jurisdictions have reported an increase in rodent activity as rodents search for new sources of food. Environmental health and rodent control programs may see an increase in service requests related to rodents and reports of unusual or aggressive rodent behavior.”
Do you think it was a wise idea for Chicago to release thousands of cats to combat this problem?