Free-ranging cats: Understanding conflict and the potential for engagement
Kokotovich AE, Delborne JA, Redford K, Cook T, Leslie E, Sieracki J, Trevino D. 2021. Free-ranging cats: Understanding conflict and the potential for engagement. Natural Resource Report. NPS/NRSS/BRD/NRR—2021/2297. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/nrr-2287250
Free-ranging domestic cats (Felis catus)—cats that spend any of their time outside and unconfined—pose a challenge to the National Park Service (NPS) because of their potential negative impacts to biodiversity and because of the history of stakeholder conflict around their management. In the face of recent calls for a more collaborative approach to management, we examined the conflict among free-ranging cat stakeholders and explored how engagement could be used to help inform NPS decision making. First, we analyzed position statements on free-ranging cats from key national-level organizations to understand how they differ and their implications for approaches to engagement. Second, we interviewed twelve stakeholders who have been involved with free-ranging cat issues at the national level to explore, at a deeper level, what contributes to free-ranging cat conflict, whether engagement is possible, and what might support a collaborative approach. We found that despite the frequent framing of free-ranging cat management as a two-sided issue, 1) all groups agreed upon the goal of having fewer free-ranging cats, and 2) management preferences reflected greater diversity than simple polarization. In addition, interviewees widely, although not unanimously, agreed on the need for a more collaborative and less conflictual approach to free-ranging cat management and highlighted two key factors that could help: 1) recognizing the importance of ecological and social contexts in considering the impact of free-ranging cats and appropriate management actions, and 2) navigating polarization, in part by improving relationships. We conclude by offering eight recommended approaches for NPS free-ranging cat engagement.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Kokotovich, Adam; Delborne, Jason; Redford, Kent; Cook, Tammy; Leslie, Elaine; Sieracki, Jennifer; Trevino, Dave
- Date of Issue
- 2021-08
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/nrr-2287250
- Units
- BRD , NRSS
- Keywords
- domestic cats, Felis catus, Free-ranging cats, human dimensions, invasive animals
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Invasive Species | Invasive/Exotic plants