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Thursday, 10 November 2011

Are feral cats considered wild animals?

The answer has to be a qualified, Yes. Feral cats are born to other feral cats. They are born in the wild or in a non-domestic environment (the human home). Their behavior is geared to living outside the human home and human interaction.

The complication comes when feral cats live in urban environments. Urban feral cats might feed on restaurant scraps and waste food from hospitals, for example. These cats may well meet with people. People may interact with them and feed them. These cats are semi-feral or semi-domesticated.

There is a gradation from true domestic to true feral cat. In between are stray cats and semi-feral cats to varying degrees of wildness.

Feral cats that can be called wild animals are those living, for example,  in the outback in Australia with large territories and which have an ecology and behavior that is in tune with a small wild cat species such as the African wildcat, which looks like a tabby feral cat in fact.

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