Washington counts cat population
Print Edition
A striped feline leaps from a rock under the shade of a tree on a late October morning. As its front paws touch the ground, the whiskered creature looks up, eyes darting left. A wildlife camera clicks and captures the scene.
It鈥檚 a cat 鈥 and the location isn鈥檛 a remote rainforest, but the capital of the United States.
The photo is part of the DC Cat Count, a first of its kind, three-year effort by animal welfare advocates, conservationists and scientists to enumerate every Felis catus in Washington.
The team behind the study says it provides an accurate estimate of the size of the city鈥檚 indoor, outdoor and shelter population.
It found there are about 200,000 cats in the District of Columbia, with about half of them living indoors only, said Tyler Flockhart, a conservation biologist and science lead on the DC Cat Count.
The other half is a group that includes owned cats with limited or unlimited access outdoors, stray cats, and roughly 3,000 to 4,000 feral cats who avoid interactions with humans.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that you can find another wild mammal 鈥 another wild carnivore 鈥 that occurs at that density anywhere in the world,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 think that this is really sort of an interesting idea that we can have so many cats in such a small location.鈥
The study brought together groups that are often at odds over the impact of outdoor cats on wildlife while conservationists worry outdoor cats can decimate bird populations, animal advocates seek to ensure their welfare and safety.
鈥淲hat was really groundbreaking ... was these organizations coming together,鈥 said Stephanie Shain, the chief operating officer of the Humane Rescue Alliance.
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