• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Film/TV/Stream
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Tech/Science
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Jennifer Lopez tells Britney Spears to ‘stay strong’
  • Meta will hold the first ever drag show in the metaverse
  • Billy Eichner needed Bros to be ‘authentic’

Washington, District of Cats: US capital first city to count its felines

Towleroad October 24, 2021 Leave a Comment

Published by
AFP
466030 origin 1
This still image from video released by the DC Cat Count/Humane Rescue Alliance shows a cat photographed by a wildlife camera in Washington

Washington (AFP) – 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’s a cat — and the location isn’t 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’s 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, Flockhart said.

“I don’t think that you can find another wild mammal — another wild carnivore — that occurs at that density anywhere in the world,” he said, of cats and urban environments. 

“I think that this is really sort of an interesting idea that we can have so many cats in such a small location.”

Consensus for a cat census

The study brought together groups that are often at odds over the impact that outdoor cats have on wildlife and landscape.

While conservationists worry that outdoor cats can decimate bird populations, animal advocates seek to ensure the welfare and safety of cats seeking to survive outside.

“What was really groundbreaking with the DC Cat Count was these organizations coming together,” said Stephanie Shain, the chief operating officer of the Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA), which took part in the study.

They were driven by a common purpose “to really focus not on who is right or who has been right, but really focus on getting it right —  finding out the information, analyzing the data,” she added. 

Shain said HRA recommends that cat owners keep their feline friends indoors only in order to keep them safe and avoid damaging wildlife.

“I was pleased to see how many people actually follow that advice,” she said.

To count all the cats who call the seat of American power home, researchers surveyed more than 2,600 residents, analyzed animal shelter records, walked along specific routes in search of cats and set up wildlife cameras in more than 1,500 spots.

“This is probably the most thorough analysis of cats of any city in the world,” Flockhart said.

He and other researchers continue to analyze the data collected since 2018 and the research has already led to several peer-reviewed scientific papers.

The DC Cat Count team also made an extensive toolkit available online with protocols and guidelines for organizations wishing to carry out their own cat census.   

Besides cats, the camera traps also snapped pictures of numerous animals including squirrels, raccoons, foxes, deer — and even a bobcat.

“There’s a huge diversity of wildlife in our cities,” Flockhart said.

“We tend to think of it as humans-only, and it could be anything but the case. There are all types of wildlife, from rodents all the way up to large predators.”

Topics: Aaon, Living, towleroad, World More Posts About: Cats, Washington DC

Related Posts
  • Coughs and Lethargy for Big Cats: Washington Zoo Say Their Tigers, Lions Catch Covid
  • Chasten, Emhoff Take DC. Second Gent Pushes Vaccine on Pride Lap of Gay Bars. Chasten Owns RNC Chair, Leaves Her Own Platform as Receipt.
  • LGBTQ Nightlife is Opening Up, But Honor Systems, Fake Vaccination Cards Still Pose Risks
  • Meta will hold the first ever drag show in the metaverse

    Meta will hold the first ever drag show in the metaverse

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Meta will hold the first ever drag show in the metaverse. Facebook’s parent company is planning to throw a kiki in their virtual universe, titled ‘Queens of the Metaverse’, which will …Read More »
  • Billy Eichner needed Bros to be ‘authentic’

    Billy Eichner needed Bros to be ‘authentic’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Billy Eichner wouldn’t have signed up for ‘Bros’ if it wasn’t “authentic to gay audiences”. The 43-year-old comedian was first approached about the movie by producer Judd Apatow and director and …Read More »
  • Michelle Visage shocked by ‘introverted’ RuPaul

    Michelle Visage shocked by ‘introverted’ RuPaul

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Michelle Visage was shocked by how much of an “introvert” RuPaul is. The ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ judge says the 61-year-old flamboyant drag legend and television star is actually “very reserved and …Read More »
  • U.S. House gives Biden a win with massive bill on climate change, drug prices

    U.S. House gives Biden a win with massive bill on climate change, drug prices

    Published by Reuters By David Morgan, Moira Warburton and Rose Horowitch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives approved a $430 billion bill on Friday that is seen as the biggest climate package in U.S. …Read More »
Previous Post: « Corey Feldman auctioning off prosthetic ear from Stand By Me
Next Post: Lil Nas X Industry Baby Will Beat Rap Homophobia By Any Means Necessary: Trolls, Ignores, Beats Rapper Boosie’s Year of Nasty Comments »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Trump vs Biden again? The documents scandal makes it more likely

    Trump vs Biden again? The documents scandal makes it more likely

  • White House to circulate Afghanistan memo defending U.S. withdrawal – Axios report

    White House to circulate Afghanistan memo defending U.S. withdrawal – Axios report

  • Russian propagandists claim Moscow has been ‘studying’ Mar-a-Lago nuclear documents ‘for a while’

    Russian propagandists claim Moscow has been ‘studying’ Mar-a-Lago nuclear documents ‘for a while’

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y’know

  • Ellen Has Not Contacted Ex-Lover Anne Heche Following Fiery Crash Into LA Home

    Ellen Has Not Contacted Ex-Lover Anne Heche Following Fiery Crash Into LA Home

  • Pete Davidson Proposed to Kim Kardashian Before Their Breakup

    Pete Davidson Proposed to Kim Kardashian Before Their Breakup

  • New bombshell book on Trump reveals he wanted to be treated like Hitler: ‘Totally loyal’

    New bombshell book on Trump reveals he wanted to be treated like Hitler: ‘Totally loyal’

RSS Partner Links

  • Sofia Carson Dishes On If 'Purple Hearts' Will Have A Sequel
  • Gay History Lesson
  • Open Post: Hosted By The Thief Who Hid In A Giant Teddy Bear
  • The FBI Says That The Gun In The “Rust” Shooting Could Not Have Gone Off By Itself And The Trigger Was Pulled
  • Shakira Is Considering Moving Miami To Leave Behind Her Tax And Relationship Woes In Spain
  • Paulina Porizkova Responds to Plastic Surgeon Telling Her How She Should 'Fix' Her Face
  • Leslie Jordan show us his new condo!

Most Recent

  • Jennifer Lopez tells Britney Spears to ‘stay strong’

    Jennifer Lopez tells Britney Spears to ‘stay strong’

  • Meta will hold the first ever drag show in the metaverse

    Meta will hold the first ever drag show in the metaverse

  • Billy Eichner needed Bros to be ‘authentic’

    Billy Eichner needed Bros to be ‘authentic’

  • Michelle Visage shocked by ‘introverted’ RuPaul

    Michelle Visage shocked by ‘introverted’ RuPaul

  • U.S. House gives Biden a win with massive bill on climate change, drug prices

    U.S. House gives Biden a win with massive bill on climate change, drug prices

  • Robert De Niro pays tribute to ‘wonderful’ Anne Heche

    Robert De Niro pays tribute to ‘wonderful’ Anne Heche

  • Trump lawyer in June said classified material had been returned -NY Times

    Trump lawyer in June said classified material had been returned -NY Times

  • I want to spread positivity, says Billy Porter

    I want to spread positivity, says Billy Porter

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2022 · Log in

×