Of course, anywhere you go in St. Petersburg, you'll see an alley cat or two. But if you let them breed unchecked, experts say, you'll have a problem.
“Large colonies of stray cats can transmit a variety of diseases to humans if left to their own devices,” said Jeanne Murphy, a senior wildlife biologist and co-founder of the educational and eco-tourism program Sensing Nature. “There are certain diseases found only in domesticated cats that can affect humans.”
Feline panleukopenia, for example, is a disease found only in domesticated cats, but it can be contracted by humans. Murphy said that feline panleukopenia is primarily found in kittens and is highly contagious and life-threatening to a cat population.
If large colonies of cats are left unattended, it can spread to the entire group, then to humans.
“If a human comes into contact with the blood, urine, feces, or even fleas of an infected cat they are at risk of becoming infected,” Murphy said. “Symptoms in humans may include a fever, loss of appetite, and vomiting.”
Another disease that can be transmitted from cats to humans is toxoplasmosis.
This affliction is found in cat feces and can cause serious complications for pregnant women with low immune systems. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable, as toxoplasmosis can cause congenital disabilities, such as eye or brain damage.
“If you are pregnant, never touch a stray cat’s face or touch your face onto the cat,” Murphy warned. “Cats clean around their posterior and there is the possibility of remnants of fecal matter on the cat’s face.”
Cats can also spread parasites to humans through puncture wounds, like ringworm.
“Cat bites have bacteria that can kill small animals and can infect humans if the wound is not immediately treated with antibiotics,” Murphy said. “All of these diseases can be treated if the cats are vaccinated and are kept up to date on their vaccinations, but large colonies of stray cats are usually not constantly monitored, so these diseases can grow in the colony unnoticed.”
Scary as those sound, stray cat populations have their role among human populations — and it's a pretty important one, too.
“I view the cat problem as a moderate problem, but it combats the serious problem of rats,” said St. Petersburg City Councilman Karl Nurse, whose District seat encompasses part of Midtown.
Rats can carry the rabies virus and the cat colonies are able to kill the rats, he said. The city council member lives in an apartment complex on 5th Street North where stray cats have fended off rat infestations and prevented rats from infecting humans with diseases. Nurse said it is imperative for stray cats to exist in St. Petersburg, including Midtown, “because the cats take care of the rats.”
When Pinellas County Animal Services took away the stray cats that frequented Nurse’s apartment complex and killed them — instead of simply trapping, spaying/neutering, vaccinating and releasing them (a practice known as TNVR), the rats infested the apartments four weeks later.
“Whether we like it or not, the stray cats are a part of our community, and once more stray cats frequented my apartment, the rats disappeared,” Nurse said.
But even if there's a way to humanely manage a population that helps us out (TNVR), in Midtown, some areas are so overrun that it's affecting housing and construction. Melinda Perry, the Chief Operating Officer at St. Petersburg Housing Authority, said there is a possibility of large colonies of stray cat populations affecting access to affordable housing.
“We had complications at housing complexes where ducks were nesting next to air conditioners and we had no idea how to remove the ducks from the area,” Perry said. “So the idea of a large and uncontrolled population of stray and feral cats would cause many outside organizations to think twice before getting involved, because they are usually not prepared or qualified to deal with animals taking up residence in their housing complexes.”
A large number of stray cats in Midtown can also attract a dangerous predator — the coyote.
“There have been many coyote sightings along the Pinellas Trail,” Nurse said. “The coyotes are being drawn in by their favorite food, cats.”
Scott Daly, the executive director of Pet Pal Animal Shelter, said cats are the “absolute favorite food of coyotes” and that coyotes are coming to St. Petersburg because of the burgeoning stray cat population — which is bad news for anyone who has a small pet that goes outside.
“Coyotes are coming from all over because of the cats,” Daly said. “Cats are becoming the new raccoons, and coyotes are becoming the new bears in terms of coming in contact with human communities.”
Murphy said that while there is no scientific research to indicate coyotes are traveling via pedestrian trails like the Pinellas Trail and Clam Bayou to St. Petersburg specifically for the cats, she said coyotes are known to favor using human-made trails for travel.
“Coyotes utilize roadways, wildlife trails, and human-made trails because they are easier to access,” Murphy said. “Coyotes are survivors, and if coyotes find a large supply of food, like cats, they will travel any distance.”
Stray cats also may be moving into Midtown from Gulfport and, following right behind them, coyotes, said Austin Allen, an attendant and weekend supervisor at nearby Twin Brooks Golf Course. On the other side of the golf course is Clam Bayou Nature Park, which has the above-mentioned human-made trail that leads between Gulfport and St. Petersburg. Allen said stray cats and dogs travel to the golf course from Clam Bayou.
“There is a lot of land on the course and stray animals would come right behind the bushes where Clam Bayou is,” Allen said. “You could hear cat fights and cat calls in the night.”
But eight months ago the stray cats and dogs disappeared and the first coyote was spotted on Twin Brooks Golf Course.
“He was thin and tall like a deer,” Allen said. “He would walk up on the range and seemed too close.”
Two months after the first coyote sighting, coyote pups could be heard on the golf course at least a dozen times, Allen said, though he never saw them.
If coyotes do become more prevalent in Midtown, they have the potential to harm humans seriously, Murphy said. People seem to forget that coyotes are wild animals and changing coyotes’ natural fear of humans is bad.
“If coyotes get too acclimated in a human community they can bite, attack and kill humans,” Murphy said. “Think of the human fatalities committed by bears and alligators that lose their natural fear of humans in Florida.”
While the stray cat problem has not been officially identified by the St. Petersburg city government or in Midtown’s Community Reinvestment Act, other organizations have taken it upon themselves to help the cats and the people.
Meow Now is a spay/neuter and release program that only operates in Pinellas County and has been busy in Midtown. Dan Hester, the organization's founder as well as a board member, said Meow Now has been active in Midtown for three years.
“Midtown is generally a low-income area where there is low maintenance,” Hester said. “Stray cats love to congregate in these types of areas, but because of the redevelopment Midtown now has a chance to clean up the community and help these cats.”
The stray cats in Midtown are called “community cats” by Hester because while the cats are stray, they are fed and kept up to date on vaccinations by caretakers. Hester said cats have the innate ability to produce larger litters of kittens if the immediate area is void of other cats, so the incredibly cruel practice of trapping and killing cats does not remedy the problem.
“Euthanizing the cats is not just immoral, but it does not solve the problem of the influx of cats,” Hester said. Meow Now monitors every known cat colony in Midtown and spays or neuters at least 80 percent of the cats within, so the cats can still have a long and fulfilling life and the next generation of stray cats is smaller than the last.”
Hester claimed there are more stray cats now in downtown and south St. Petersburg compared to Midtown, because the community in Midtown has been generally positive towards the spay and return program.
While Pinellas Animal Services does not do TNVR or independently trap cats, Hester said the agency gives the stray cats it picks up to Meow Now for spaying or neutering, and they're then returned to where the cats were first trapped.
“Pinellas Animal Services has been very good about handing over stray cats so they can be returned home after we spay them,” Hester said.
Pinellas County Animal Services has also given Pet Pal Animal Shelter a $3,200 grant for spaying, neutering, and vaccinating stray cats in Midtown.
“Pet Pal Animal Shelter has a clinic where we conduct our spay and return program,” Daly said. "Pinellas Animal Services is aware there is a problem and has given us the means to help these cats and the people that care for them.”
While the St. Petersburg city government has not funded any programs for animals, Nurse said funding the housing redevelopment in Midtown has inadvertently helped with the spay and return program. Nurse said derelict houses are being demolished and cat colonies are now able to be monitored easier.
“We have reduced the number of boarded-up houses by two-thirds in the past three years,” Nurse said. "Cat colonies are not hiding and are out in the open where organizations like Pet Pal can trap, spay, vaccinate, and monitor the cats without inhumanely putting them down.”
Nurse also said that the St. Petersburg city government has invited the head of Pinellas County Animal Services to prioritize the influx of stray cats.
The spay and return program has also been beneficial for the St. Petersburg Housing Authority. Perry said that there have been no known problems with stray cats in the designated Community Reinvestment Act zone that has been identified for redevelopment in Midtown.
“There have been no stray cat problems around the Jordan Park apartments that we owe thanks to Meow Now,” Perry said. “Any cats that are around control the rodents and deter rodents from getting into any of our units.”
Hester said that while Midtown generally approves of Meow Now and the spay and return program, Meow Now is in need of donations.
“Our yearly budget is $120,000, and while spaying and vaccinating a cat is only $25 and our organization is run by volunteers, we cannot run a non-profit without donations,” Hester said. “If one person out of 50 gives a donation of any kind it is a good day.”
Hester criticized St. Petersburg city government for not doing anything to address the stray cats, instead leaving it up to the county and nonprofits.
“St. Petersburg has generally been animal-friendly but the city council has not done anything,” Hester said. “This is not just a problem for animal services.”
But Councilman Nurse said the city council always has a lot on its plate, and that Midtown should focus on crime, housing, unemployment, and schools — all areas of great need in Midtown — before zeroing in on the stray cats.
“The city government recognizes there is a problem but it is unfortunately never a high enough priority on the already long list of problems in St. Petersburg,” Nurse said.
Daly said the issue is being addressed, but funding from the city government is essential to help the cats.
“I would like to see more done in Midtown,” Daly said. “I am still getting stray kittens from a mother that has disappeared.”
Murphy said she is more pessimistic about the spay and return program in Midtown. Meow Now may spay 80 percent of a colony, but the remaining 20 percent of cats can still breed and seeing cat colonies may give people the idea that it is okay to abandon their cats, which only exacerbates the problem.
The ultimate solution to the cat problem is Midtown is still unknown, but part of the equation has to be changing public perception of cats and of pet ownership in general.
“It is easy to adopt out kittens, but what about the poor six-year-old cat no one wants,” Hester said. “All we can do is help control the population of cat colonies and still let the cats have long and healthy lives.”
Sean Avery Speagle is a student journalist with USF St. Petersburg's Neighborhood News Bureau.
This article appears in May 11-18, 2017.