TNVR (Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return)
TNVR is continual colony management where “healthy free roaming or feral cats are sterilized, vaccinated and returned to the location where they were found.” 1 They are mostly ear-tipped for easy identification. The benefits of TNVR are: 1. It stabilizes the size of the colony by eliminating new litters 2. It greatly reduces nuisance behaviors associated with free roaming cats such as mating related yowling, fighting and urine spraying 3. Neighborhoods with sterilized cat colonies also have a greater immunity against rabies, and 4. It reduces the number of cats that come into local shelters; therefore, it helps prevent shelter overcrowding, illness, and euthanasia.2
Why is TNVR a necessary and effective solution to stray cat management and population control? Rescuing, euthanizing, impounding, or relocating cats are ineffective measures because new cats just move in to the space: “There is something about the location that brought the original cats there that will keep bringing more cats to the location, whether it is shelter or food source. This pattern is termed the vacuum effect”. 3
Sources
1 https://www.sumtercountyfl.gov/
2 ibid.