By Rita Thiel
The population growth of feral (community) cats on Ocracoke is declining.
One thousand… 800… 500 and now, approximately 375 Ocracats are living and romping around trying to make the best of their situations.
In the last 15 years, the approximate count of the “feral” community cats on Ocracoke has steadily declined.
This is due, in most part, to the successful TNR (trap-neuter-release) program that has been in full effect since 2010.
Ocracats’ spay/neuter clinics were reduced from one three-day clinic each year, to none in the past two years.
That’s because Ocracats volunteers have shouldered the TNR task themselves year-round, resulting in a current fertile population of fewer than 15.
All those years of clinics and trapping led to the decline of kitten births from 91 kittens brought in in 2020 to 12 kittens in 2024.
This is an amazing success rate!
There should never be purposeful breeding of feral cats, and even though the feral community cats on Ocracoke are fed, medically cared for and respected (for the most part), feral life is painful, scary, and dangerous and much suffering occurs.
The focus now for our community cats is to continue with TNR, and islanders can help by alerting us to non-neutered males and unspayed females and even in helping to capture them at appropriate times.
At the same time, we will continue to take good care of the cats who were forced to make Ocracoke their home — forced because many of the cats you see in colonies around the village were private cats or older kittens who were left behind by owners, seasonal workers or those who decided their cat would be fine on its own: It’s Ocracoke. Well, they aren’t “fine.”
Imagine taking your pet cat and leaving it outside all on its own to live by its best means. What a shock to the animal!
So Ocracats continues to feed the community cats every day, which is a big expense.
Your pet eats each day, right? These are not wild animals. In a perfect world, they should all be comfortable in someone’s cozy house with a loving family, but they aren’t.
Imagine taking your pet cat and leaving it outside all on its own to live by its best means. What a shock to the animal!
They rely on their “feeders” (Ocracats volunteers and residents) to give them some of the basic needs of all animals: food, water, shelter, and yes, kindness.
The wildlife on Ocracoke is eaten or killed sometimes by the cats, but can you imagine how many birds, lizards and frogs would be eaten if the cats had no other food source?
Cats will kill the rats they find on the island and eat them if they are small. But the cats have to be allowed on your property and near your home and outbuildings in order to hear and see the rats to kill. If you don’t let the cats around your house, they can’t telepathically know there is a rat giving you issues. There is a compromise situation here if you want the cats to help you with your rats.
Ocracats is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that relies entirely on donations, merchandise sales and grants to provide the food and medical care to the 375(+/-) community cats.
Daily feedings continue to help maintain a healthy population, with medical issues observed and treated when possible.
An unhealthy, mangy, diseased looking feral community results when consistent feedings of healthy food are not available.
To donate, visit www.ocracats.org, or send checks to P.O. Box 993, Ocracoke, NC 27960.
