Gatti Liberi, the Free Cats of Italy

Happy National Feral Cat Day!  In honor of the day, I’d like to share what I consider to be a great success story in the management and humane treatment of feral cats.  

Triestine Gatti Liberi.

Every couple of years, for quite awhile now, I’ve visited Trieste, Italy for work.  I’ve been impressed by the decrease in the number of feral cats roaming the city during that time, and the increase in the number of fixed cats (made obvious by the ear-tipping).  My supervisor, who has visited Trieste for many more years than I have (and lived there for awhile), even told me on my first visit that the number cats used to be much greater, so clearly something had changed.  On my last visit, I asked about this and was told that the decrease was essentially due to efforts of local organizations, and one was mentioned as being very important to this effort, the Associazione Il Gattile, founded in 1996.  Lacking time, my inquiry ended there, but this post gave me an excuse to examine it further. With that said, I wrote Il Gattile recently, and would like to give them a very big thank-you for providing me with more information for this post!

My dinner companion on an empty restaurant patio the first ever evening I spent in Trieste.  Back then I had no idea what the ear tip meant.

Starting with the basics… stray cats in Italy are not called “feral” cats, they are “free” cats.  Free as in freely living, liberated, not no-cost and free for the taking. I find that about 25% of the cats I’ve encountered in colonies are not truly feral by our standards either.  Some are quite friendly, and happy to associate with you while you visit their park. Some are more suspicious of strangers, but warm up if you offer food, and I imagine they are completely socialized to their caregiver.  Most of the photos I've put in this post suggest most of the cats are really friendly with strangers, but that's just because it's hard to photograph a cat that is quickly running away from you.

This local forest dwelling cat looks truly free. 

Gatti liberi are protected by Italian law, specifically by an animal welfare law that was passed in 1991, making Italy the first no-kill country in the world.  This law spells out a number of rules for free cat colonies and their gattara/o (their caregivers). Apparently, this law will also be updated soon to include more companion animals (not just cats and dogs) and stronger animal welfare regulation.  

"I'm king of this jungle."

By law, gatti liberi have the right to stay in any location they’ve claimed as their home.  Caregivers are supposed to spay/neuter them, register them, maintain their health (e.g. take them to a vet when necessary), and feed them, while respecting the location of the colony and other people (e.g., cats are to be fed at regular times, in a sheltered location that is not under a car, and trays are not to be left behind).

A very friendly gatti liberi enjoying a good neck scratch.

There are over 630 feline colonies registered in the Province of Trieste.  I can’t help but imagine 630 colonies that are the size of the one we work with, and gasping at that number (that would be a lot of cats!), but I know that the one we work with is not typical by any means.  In my limited experience in Trieste, a colony is usually no more than a few cats in a park, near a particular group of houses, or by an apartment complex.  

Another park dweller, enjoying the fresh air.  This was one of the few cats I saw on my last visit without an ear tip.  I tried to talk to its caregiver, who I ran into a few days later, since I wanted to ask about the cats, but only managed to say "hello" and "pretty cat" (given my exceptionally limited Italian and her not speaking English). 

The obvious population decrease, even given the number of registered colonies, has been due to spay/neuter campaigns and changes in animal welfare education.  The Associazione Il Gattile spays/neuters about 1000 cats per year, finds home for about 400 orphaned, abandoned, or lost cat/kittens per year, and their volunteers have participated in hundreds of spay/neuter campaign trappings.  Other vets in the province also provide spay/neuter services to help control the free cat population. Il Gattile will also provide shelter to free cats that in danger because their home is or has become unsuitable (e.g. living near a busy road) or there is a health threat.

Construction zone cat.

Education, the support of the Italian government, local organizations, and a well-ingrained cat culture has clearly led to healthy, well-cared for cat colonies in the Trieste region, and the work to keep the population of cats healthy and in check is to be commended.  

Il Parco del Castello di Miramare and one of its many residents.

Our nation could perhaps learn from this example.  We may not have the same cat culture, but with more education and will, perhaps we’d see fewer poorly managed, unhealthy colonies, and fewer abandoned cats to begin with.  Personally, we cannot condone letting cats be outdoors on purpose, unless leashed. They are subject to predatory wildlife, roads, and malicious people, and they certainly do kill birds (we have none within at least a 1 block radius, and any that mistakenly land here quickly end up dead and become a feral cat toy).  Plus, letting your cat or dog outside off-leash is illegal in our town, and many others, to start. However, when confronted with an unadoptable feral colony that didn’t ask to be there in the first place, we can condone healthy (fed, sheltered, fixed, and vaccinated), zero birth rate colonies.  We don’t like the "management" alternatives.  Kudos to Alley Cat Allies for fueling the U.S. cat revolution and organizing National Feral Cat Day.  We hope their influence continues to spread!

Another gratuitous park cat photo.

And another.

And to close, one of the many resident cats on the not too far away island of Burano, Italy.

 

Feral #33

This late season catch was an interesting one. The cats in the colony continue to surprise us.

"Shaky Legs"

This cat has difficulty walking. We aren't sure if it's a physical problem or neurological problem, but he has very little control over his back legs. His back half falls over and his legs are shaky. This condition seems to prevent him from jumping, so he has never actually been in our yard. We spotted him in the utility easement on the other side of the fence and have been tossing him food to encourage his presence. We devised a way to lower the trap over the fence and it didn't take long for him to figure out how to go in it.

This condition could be considered a side effect of a feral life. Had he been born into a home with a loving owner, a physical deficiency may have been corrected early on or a neurological issue might have been treated with medication. This condition does not seem to affect his quality of life in the colony, as he seems to be in good health otherwise and can move quickly when necessary.

However, his disability may have placed him at the bottom of the colony hierarchy. We thought this cat was a female when we first saw it because it was being mated with by one of the large males. Now that we know it is a boy, a quick Google search tells us that male cats will mate with anything if there aren't any unfixed females around. It may have also been a show of dominance in general as there were several cats watching this happen.