National Geographic: The Secret Life of Cats Page #2

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we could only dream.

His uncanny sense of balance

almost always insures

a safe landing.

With persistence

and precision,

the cat gets his mouse.

This is a creature

designed to survive.

He has landed in the most

outlandish of places

and somehow managed to endure.

Near the Antarctic,

temperatures can

plunge to 50 below.

On a diet of seabirds

and the occasional

penguin carcass,

the cats of Macquarie Island

have persevered since

they were dropped here

by sealers over a century ago.

Half a world away,

the volcanic Galapagos Islands

offer little water

or prey to its immigrant cats.

Though lean,

the population persists.

Abandoned cats are struggling

to survive throughout

the world-even in the U.S.,

where there are an

estimated 50 million.

Here in Miami, Florida,

thousands of forsaken felines

have landed in the middle of

a raging controversy.

Though the dumping of

pets is prohibited

in Dade County parks,

it's not uncommon to

find colonies of up to 75

abandoned cats.

What are the consequences

of so many predators?

Don Chingquina of the

Tropical Audubon Society

is concerned about

the wildlife.

You know parks like these

are so important to

migrating birds,

because

when you think about it,

these birds fly from as

far away as the Yucatan.

They come across

the Gulf of Mexico,

and they're tired,

they're hungry.

They land in a small,

confined place like

this to replenish

and they're greeted

by 50 to 100 cats.

It's a recipe for disaster.

Through no fault of their own

these felines have stirred

a fiery debate.

Kate Rhubee is one of many

volunteer feeders

who have taken pity on

these outcasts.

She, too, knows there's

no easy solution.

A lot of people

are really concerned

about the impact that

the homeless

cats have on the small birds

in the area.

In an ideal world,

we wouldn't have

people dumping their pets,

and the cats wouldn't

be outside,

and they wouldn't be

impacting the wildlife.

But in this cycle of

human neglect,

it's not just the wildlife

that's in jeopardy.

These cats are at the mercy

of world-class hurricanes,

aggression within

the colony and disease.

It's really upsetting to me

when someone dumps

their pets here,

'cause this is absolutely

no life for a cat.

In the last

three-and-a-half months,

we've had 39

new cats dumped here.

With so many new arrivals,

the population is exploding.

Spaying and neutering

is critical.

But most of the strays

have become so wild,

it's impossible to

even approach them.

Members of the Cat Network

provide the traps,

the ingenuity-

and the sardines.

Still, there's no guarantee

which cats will venture

into the traps-

if any at all.

Only tomorrow will tell.

Hey, you guys,

we got one already.

The night's bounty

has been good.

Kate? Is this the orange

you were looking for?

Yes, he is.

I'm concerned that

he's really sick,

looks like he's gonna have

AIDS with all of those marks.

Off to the vet you go.

Dr. Ted Sanchez

works with the Cat Network

at a reduced rate caring for

homeless cats.

The rest of the funds come

from volunteers like

Cindy Hewitt

who contribute thousands of

dollars each year.

We're going to be taking a

little blood test

and we're just gonna try to

rule out a couple of

viral diseases

that they commonly get.

It's a male.

And these guys tend to be a

little bit more prevalent

in the males than the females

because they tend to have

more sexual contact.

We're just going to

take a little blood.

Cats are vulnerable to

two lethal viruses.

Feline leukemia

and feline AIDS

are both highly contagious-

and deadly.

It's not a pretty death.

Cindy, I think we may have

a positive here.

You can tell here.

We'll see what the test

comes out.

But you see the gums?

They're real, real red.

He's got a pretty good

gingivitis here,

which is one of the common

things we see with feline...

plus the fact that

he's a male.

So we'll wait.

He's got a couple of variety

of skin lesions as well,

so he's not in

the greatest shape.

He's been eating well,

he's not too thin,

but this is a bad sign.

It really makes me sad

that the animals suffer.

And anytime I have to

put a cat down,

it really bothers me.

But, if you leave him,

then he's gonna infect

the others.

It's the right thing to do,

unfortunately.

And he'll also have

a really miserable death.

If they go through the

course of this illness,

it's not fair to them.

They suffer too much.

Cats that test negative

for disease

might be candidates

for adoption.

But first they must be spayed

or neutered.

I don't think it's the

solution to the problem.

But at least

we are controlling

the population somewhat.

Thousands of cats are being

put to sleep every year,

needlessly,

because owners are

just not complying

with spaying and neutering.

We have to tell these people

that are abandoning cats,

this isn't the way to do it.

Spayed and neutered cats

have the tips of

the ears clipped,

to serve

as a permanent record.

This kitten has become

too wild for adoption.

Once she's recovered

from surgery,

she'll return to the colony-

to face an uncertain future.

You doing alright?

Alright.

It's a dismal solution

for the cats

and a precarious

one for the wildlife.

Well-fed and spayed,

a cat can still hunt.

But where are the thousands

of homeless felines to go?

Until an answer can be found,

migrating birds

may come face to face

with yet another predator.

But it's not just

the homeless that hunt.

There are more than 60

million house cats in the U.S. -

and many are on the prowl

night and day.

What is the impact of

these unleashed predators?

The answer is clear at the

Wildlife Center of Virginia.

Dr. Gentz, cat attack coming

in from Harrisonburg.

Many of the patients

are casualties

of ordinary house cats.

We have two injured bunnies.

Most are mangled

beyond repair.

Cat attack coming in from...

Each day brings new drama for

Dr. Ned Gentz and his team,

as they try to piece together

the victims of cat attacks.

Well, I think this one's

going to make it...

although probably half don't.

Casualties pour into the

Wildlife Center night and day.

Pet owners are often shocked

to find that their well-fed

cats are killers.

Though some have been

de-clawed,

the attack is often

just as gruesome.

This one was injured on

it's eye right here.

And it was bleeding

this morning.

And this one was injured...

...on his leg...

...right there.

Oh, you better

put it back in.

The hospital recovery room

is filled with creatures

that fell prey to the claw.

Most require intensive care.

But for every

recovering patient...

there are four others

that didn't make it.

This represents two weeks of

cat attack victims

brought here to the

Wildlife Center of Virginia-

the non-survivors.

We probably have an

equal number of

animals in the

intensive care unit

still being treated now

that we hope will do better

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