Dayun Jung

Why do we give food to stray cats(in Korea)?

We often hear an opinion that stray cats shouldn’t be fed because it can attract even more cats and cause trouble. In particular, there is an intense conflict surrounding rubbish.

Stray cats born and raised in streets shuffle through rubbish bins to gain food that is scarce in urban space. Cats that live with people in residential areas have long lost their hunting abilities, so they rarely hunt their own food and cannot survive without helping hands. As cats are territorial animals, they do not leave the area of origin even if there’s no food, and no other cats enter areas that already have a sufficient number of cats.

To prevent the cats' behavior of sifting through rubbish bins from being perceived as a despicable act and to systematically manage food trays that disturb street aesthetics, different local authorities are collaborating with animal welfare groups to conduct stray cat food canteen projects. If stray cats are fed regularly, we can prevent them from shuffling through rubbish.

Unless you directly contact stray cats, the possibility of getting a disease is negligible.

There’s an argument that cats should be ousted from residential areas because their very existence spread disease. Those people raise particular concerns about 'STFS virus(ticks)’ and ‘Toxoplasmosis’.

In terms of the STFS virus(ticks), there is yet to be reported case of cat transmission to humans. In terms of toxoplasmosis, which can be infected if you eat undercooked meat, a person can be infected if he/she consumes food right after getting in contact with a cat’s fecal material without washing hands. However, such a possibility is extremely slim. Instead, there are more cases of infection through uncooked beef(8%), pork(20%), and lamb(20%).

Some people raise the question of ‘Why do we TNR stray cats instead of culling them like in other countries?’

There are two main reasons why this system has been adopted in Korea.

Differences in ecological/historical backgrounds – In places like Europe, New Zealand, Australia, USA, and Japan, cats have been designated as ecosystem disruptors and subjected to sustained culling efforts. However, wild cats in Korea are classified into ‘feral cats’ and ‘stray cats’. ‘Stray cats’ living in urban areas do not possess ecological influence and are protected by the Animal Protect Act of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs.

Efficiency in population control – stray cats live by sharing a given area among a few of them. Therefore, even if all the stray cats in one area are eliminated, neighboring cats will move in until the same population level is reached. There are far too many stray cats in urban areas in Korea, and it is practically impossible to completely make them disappear. However, it has been shown that TNR efforts help control the population.

Diverse opinions were collected, and the public’s responses were delivered to experts. Background information related to each content can be found in the PDF file attached. 

'I would like to thank all those who provided help to this project.'

'Special thanks to S.O and S.Y.'