Cat-astrophe | NOEMA
Outdoor cats are considered one of the worst invasive species by ecologists.
户外猫被生态学家认为是最严重的入侵物种之一。
And humans are bitterly torn over how to respond.
人类对于如何应对感到痛苦。
Carrie Arnold is a contributing writer for Noema based in Virginia.
Carrie Arnold 是弗吉尼亚州 Noema 的特约撰稿人。
Waking me at dawn is no easy task.
黎明时分叫醒我可不是一件容易的事。
A night owl through and through, I am far more likely to see the dawn by just not going to bed.
作为一个彻头彻尾的夜猫子，我更有可能通过不睡觉来看到黎明。
So when my husband announced that he was headed to Old San Juan for some dawn photography, I was inclined to sleep in and join him several hours later at a more civilized hour.
因此，当我丈夫宣布他要去旧圣胡安进行一些黎明摄影时，我倾向于睡个懒觉，并在几个小时后一个更文明的时间加入他。
Then my husband dropped the bomb: “I heard there were cats.”
然后我丈夫扔下了炸弹：“我听说有猫。”
He had named the only phenomenon on Earth that could lure me out of bed before sunrise.
他说出了地球上唯一能在日出前引诱我起床的现象。
That’s because cats are crepuscular or most active at dawn and dusk.
这是因为猫在黎明和黄昏时最活跃。
The only spare time we had to glimpse the fabled street cats of Old San Juan in all their furry glory meant that I needed to get my ass out of bed.
我们唯一能看到圣胡安老城传说中的街头猫毛茸茸的荣耀的唯一空闲时间意味着我需要起床。
Bolstered by my giant travel mug chock full of coffee, I was rewarded with a breezy tropical morning.
在装满咖啡的巨大旅行杯的支撑下，我度过了一个微风徐徐的热带早晨。
We arrived at the Paseo del Morro just as the sun was peeking through the clouds, but the mile-long walkway that wove between Spanish city walls and turquoise waters sat nearly empty.
当太阳从云层中探出头来时，我们到达了莫罗大道，但在西班牙城墙和碧绿海水之间蜿蜒的一英里长的走道几乎空无一人。
As a landscape photographer, my husband was thrilled.
作为一名风景摄影师，我的丈夫很兴奋。
As a cat lover, I was not.
作为一个爱猫人士，我不是。
After 20 minutes of wandering and seeing a solitary tabby flick a disdainful tail in my direction, I began to wonder whether my husband had played a practical joke on me.
闲逛了 20 分钟后，看到一只孤独的虎斑猫轻蔑地向我的方向摇动尾巴，我开始怀疑我的丈夫是否对我开了个恶作剧。
Then I heard the electric hum of a small golf cart puttering in my direction.
然后我听到一辆小型高尔夫球车朝我的方向驶来，发出电声。
It stopped 10 feet away from me.
它停在离我 10 英尺远的地方。
The motor generated a far more effective version of the pspspspsps that I had been trying for the last quarter-hour.
电机产生了一个比我过去一刻钟一直在尝试的 pspspspsps 更有效的版本。
Within seconds, the golf cart was swarmed by voracious, yodeling felines.
几秒钟之内，高尔夫球车就挤满了贪婪的、叫喊着的猫科动物。
Cats seemed to melt out of the rocks.
猫似乎从岩石中融化了。
I felt like I had been dropped into a scene that resulted from a Vulcan mind-meld of Salvador Dalí and T.S.
我感觉自己陷入了萨尔瓦多·达利和 T.S. 瓦肯精神融合的场景中。
Eliot.
艾略特.
After filling bowls with kibble and water, the volunteer from Save a Gato, a local nonprofit helping the Paseo’s cats, tootled several hundred yards down the path, and the spectacle repeated itself.
当地非营利组织“拯救加托”（Save a Gato）的志愿者在碗里装满粗粮和水后，帮助帕塞奥的猫，沿着小路走了几百码，这一幕又重演了。
Some visitors had dubbed the mile-long trail the San Juan catwalk, and a quick perusal of the trail’s reviews revealed that I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the feline spectacle.
一些游客将这条一英里长的小径称为圣胡安时装秀，快速浏览一下这条小径的评论后发现，我并不是唯一一个喜欢猫科动物奇观的人。
So three years later, in October 2022, when I read an announcement by the National Park Service that they wanted community input on a cat management plan for the Paseo del Morro, I was confused.
因此，三年后，即 2022 年 10 月，当我读到国家公园管理局的公告称，他们希望社区就莫罗大道的猫管理计划提供意见时，我感到很困惑。
The cats almost seemed like they were part of the landscape.
这些猫几乎就像是风景的一部分。
But it took only a few seconds for me to realize that no, they aren’t.
但只花了几秒钟我就意识到不，他们不是。
Not really.
并不真地。
I gulped hard.
我艰难地咽了口口水。
Was the spectacle I so enjoyed actually destroying our planet?
我如此欣赏的奇观真的摧毁了我们的星球吗？
San Juan is filled with street cats, many of which are strays and dependent on resident ailurophiles for food.
圣胡安到处都是流浪猫，其中许多是流浪猫，依赖当地的嗜空气者获取食物。
Yet to ecologists, these kitties are one of the world’s most dangerous invasive species.
然而对于生态学家来说，这些小猫是世界上最危险的入侵物种之一。
Félix López, cultural resources program manager at the San Juan National Historic Site, which includes the Paseo, told me the ongoing presence of more than 100 feral cats along the walkway prevents the park from conserving wildlife and the natural habitat there as it’s mandated to do.
包括大道在内的圣胡安国家历史遗址的文化资源项目经理费利克斯·洛佩斯 (Félix López) 告诉我，人行道上持续存在 100 多只野猫，导致公园无法按照规定保护野生动物和自然栖息地。
“We should not be feeding animals in any national park site,” López says.
“我们不应该在任何国家公园内喂养动物，”洛佩斯说。
“This is not right for the animal, not right for the environment and this is not right for us.”
“这不适合动物，不适合环境，也不适合我们。”
For nearly 20 years, Save a Gato has been trying to reduce the Paseo’s cat population through the trap-neuter-return method, or TNR, as it’s known by the feline cognoscenti.
近 20 年来，Save a Gato 一直试图通过猫科动物行家所称的“诱捕-绝育-放归”法（TNR）来减少 Paseo 的猫数量。
This includes spaying and neutering feral and unowned cats, and returning them to their outdoor homes.
这包括对野猫和无主猫进行绝育，并将它们送回户外的家中。
Cat numbers will decline naturally, and the remaining felines will prevent other cats from elbowing their way into the colony’s land.
猫的数量会自然下降，而剩下的猫科动物将阻止其他猫挤进殖民地的土地。
But López says the presence of Save a Gato also leads locals to abandon their unwanted kittens and cats at the Paseo.
但洛佩兹表示，“拯救加托”组织的存在也导致当地人将不想要的小猫和猫遗弃在帕塞奥大道。
Many assume that the combination of kitty’s natural independence, and the extra food and water the nonprofit provides, will be adequate for their erstwhile pets.
许多人认为，小猫天生的独立性，加上非营利组织提供的额外食物和水，足以满足他们以前的宠物的需要。
As a result, the Paseo’s cat population remains massive.
因此，帕塞奥的猫数量仍然庞大。
Something, López says, must be done.
洛佩兹说，必须采取一些行动。
“This is an area where cats should not have been present from the beginning,” he says.
“这个区域从一开始就不应该有猫出现，”他说。
“The cats just basically made the site their home.”
“猫基本上就是把这个地方当成了他们的家。”
At community meetings in San Juan, the Park Service ran head-first into local cat lovers who objected to any efforts to manage the Paseo’s cats.
在圣胡安的社区会议上，公园管理局首先遇到了当地的猫爱好者，他们反对任何管理帕塞奥猫的努力。
Management, they knew, meant euthanasia for the animals they had come to cherish.
他们知道，管理意味着对他们所珍视的动物实施安乐死。
(NPS said they will make their final decision based on public comments.)
（NPS 表示他们将根据公众意见做出最终决定。）
Forget the Hatfields and McCoys, or the Jets and the Sharks.
忘记哈特菲尔德队和麦科斯队，或者喷气机队和鲨鱼队。
One of the most vehement conflicts in modern America is between the Cat People and the Bird People.
现代美国最激烈的冲突之一是猫族和鸟族之间的冲突。
When Dara Wald held focus groups with various feline- and avian-focused nonprofits as part of her doctoral dissertation research at the University of Florida, she had to keep the wildlife organizations separate from the cat groups.
作为佛罗里达大学博士论文研究的一部分，达拉·沃尔德 (Dara Wald) 与各种以猫科动物和鸟类为重点的非营利组织举行了焦点小组讨论，她必须将野生动物组织与猫科动物组织分开。
Those in cat rescue saw conservation groups as cat haters advocating for modern-day feline pogroms.
那些参与猫救援的人将保护组织视为讨厌猫的人，提倡现代的猫科动物大屠杀。
Conservationists, in turn, painted rescue groups as full of crazy cat ladies whose brains were addled by Toxoplasma gondii , a parasite found in some cat feces.
反过来，环保人士将救援组织描绘成一群疯狂的猫女士，她们的大脑被弓形虫（一种在一些猫粪便中发现的寄生虫）搞乱了。
Addressing the cat’s impact on the environment, however, requires the two sides to work together.
然而，解决猫对环境的影响需要双方共同努力。
“It’s not black and white,” says Lynette McLeod, an environmental psychologist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
“这不是黑白分明的，”新西兰坎特伯雷大学的环境心理学家莱内特·麦克劳德说。
“It’s about sitting down with people and not demonizing the other.
“重要的是与人坐下来，而不是妖魔化对方。
It’s trying to find solutions that can cater to all parties.
它正在努力寻找能够满足各方需求的解决方案。
There’s no easy answer.”
没有简单的答案。”
So what’s a cat lover to do?
那么爱猫人士应该做什么呢？
Until I stuck a tentative toe into this debate, I didn’t see an inherent conflict between my love of cats and my deep-seated beliefs in conservation.
在我尝试性地介入这场辩论之前，我并没有看到我对猫的热爱和我根深蒂固的保护信念之间存在内在的冲突。
To a large extent, I still don’t.
在很大程度上，我仍然不知道。
But with an estimated 3o to 80 million unowned cats roaming the outdoors in the United States plus an additional 30% of the country’s 60-80 million pet cats allowed outside and global bird numbers in free fall, we must all ask ourselves, which animals do we value, why, and are our cat problems instead human ones.
但在美国，估计有 30 至 8000 万只无主猫在户外闲逛，加上该国允许外出的 60-8000 万只宠物猫中还有 30%，以及全球鸟类数量直线下降，我们都必须问自己，我们珍视哪些动物，为什么，以及是我们的猫问题而不是人类问题。
I have shared my life with cats for 20 years.
我和猫一起生活了20年。
I love their sandpaper tongues, their commitment to the belief that they are starving and wasting away to nuffinks as soon as the bottom of their food bowl is visible.
我喜欢他们的砂纸舌头，他们坚信一旦看到食物碗的底部，他们就会挨饿并消瘦。
I love their conviction that not only are cats the best species, but they are also the epitome of what a cat should be.
我喜欢他们的信念，即猫不仅是最好的物种，而且也是猫应有的缩影。
I love how my current cat — a mischievous six-year-old former mama cat named Ophelia — insists that her habit of following me from room to room like a brown- and orange-striped shadow, and curling up between my husband and me on the couch every evening is pure coincidence and most definitely not an indication that she loves us.
我喜欢我现在的猫——一只名叫奥菲莉亚的顽皮的六岁前猫妈妈——坚持认为她习惯像棕色和橙色条纹的影子一样跟着我从一个房间到另一个房间，每天晚上在沙发上蜷缩在我和丈夫之间，这纯粹是巧合，绝对不表明她爱我们。
Not at all.
一点也不。
I also know that Ophelia is a predator.
我也知道奥菲莉亚是一个掠食者。
As an indoor cat, her prey is limited to toes, pens and my hair.
作为一只室内猫，她的猎物仅限于脚趾、笔和我的头发。
If she were outside, though, there would be carnage.
但如果她在外面，就会发生屠杀。
But then this is why humans started keeping cats around.
但这就是人类开始养猫的原因。
When humans began farming in the Middle East some 10,000 years ago , they found themselves storing grain surpluses.
大约一万年前，当人类开始在中东耕种时，他们发现自己储存了剩余的粮食。
Lots of grain meant lots of rodents.
大量的谷物意味着大量的啮齿动物。
Just as mice and rats were drawn to the smorgasbord of ready carbs, cats were drawn to the rodent buffet.
就像小鼠和老鼠被现成的碳水化合物大杂烩所吸引一样，猫也被啮齿动物自助餐所吸引。
More courageous cats, who were able to cope with sharing space with other cats, benefitted from the easy access to rodents and whatever food scraps they could scavenge.
更勇敢的猫能够应对与其他猫共享空间的问题，因为它们可以轻松接触啮齿动物和它们可以清除的任何食物残渣，从而受益匪浅。
As a bonus, they got shelter, some protection from predators and the occasional scratch behind the ears.
作为奖励，它们得到了庇护所、一些免受掠食者侵害的保护以及偶尔在耳后的抓伤。
Humans, for their part, got mobile rodent control and an adorable companion.
就人类而言，他们拥有移动啮齿动物控制装置和一个可爱的伴侣。
While we encouraged this process, even helped facilitate it, it wasn’t done with the same deliberation and care of, say, dogs and livestock.
虽然我们鼓励这个过程，甚至帮助促进它，但它并没有像对待狗和牲畜那样经过深思熟虑和照顾。
Instead, in an on-brand move for the species, cats domesticated themselves.
相反，猫驯化了自己，这是该物种的品牌举措。
Well, mostly.
嗯，主要是。
Until the invention of kitty litter after World War II, even the most pampered of pussycats were often let outside to do their business.
在第二次世界大战后发明猫砂之前，即使是最受宠爱的猫咪也经常被放出去做自己的事情。
Whether it’s due to less time living alongside humans or some other factor, cats retained a wildness that other house pets and so-called ‘domestic’ animals didn’t have.
无论是由于与人类一起生活的时间减少还是其他因素，猫保留了其他家养宠物和所谓的“家养”动物所没有的野性。
And they still do.
现在他们仍然这样做。
Many municipalities in the U.S. have leash laws for dogs, requiring them when off the owner’s property.
美国许多城市都有针对狗的拴绳法，要求狗在离开主人的财产时必须拴绳。
Cat owners, however, often let their pets out by opening the door or installing a cat flap.
然而，猫主人经常通过打开门或安装猫挡板来让他们的宠物出去。
Finding out where kitty spends their off-hours typically requires reconnaissance with neighbors or attaching a camera to their pet.
找出小猫下班时间去哪里通常需要与邻居进行侦察或给它们的宠物安装摄像头。
This autonomy is much of what makes cats so endearing, says researcher Lee Niel at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
加拿大安大略省圭尔夫大学的研究员李·尼尔说，这种自主性是猫如此讨人喜欢的主要原因。
The freedom to roam and ready access to the great outdoors is tied up in what many cat owners believe is fundamental to the very nature of cats.
许多猫主人认为，自由漫步和随时进入户外活动是猫的本质特征。
To have a good life — to reach the highest rung of cat-ness — cats need to go outside.
为了过上美好的生活——为了达到猫性的最高境界——猫需要出去走走。
Read Noema in print.
阅读印刷版的 Noema。
In a 2021 study of more than 5,100 cat owners from Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, researchers from the United Kingdom’s Nottingham Trent University and the University of Edinburgh found that nearly two-thirds of cat owners let their cat outside for the cat’s benefit.
英国诺丁汉特伦特大学和爱丁堡大学的研究人员在 2021 年对来自欧洲、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚和新西兰的 5100 多名猫主人进行的一项研究中发现，近三分之二的猫主人为了猫的利益而让他们的猫出去。
Kitty’s benefit, however, comes at a cost to nature.
然而，基蒂的好处是以自然为代价的。
One study found that within a one-week period, although 44% of cats successfully hunted outdoors, they only returned with 23% of their prey.
一项研究发现，在一周内，尽管 44% 的猫在户外成功捕猎，但它们只带回了 23% 的猎物。
“Because cats only bring a small proportion of their prey home, owners don’t really see that impact,” Niel says.
“因为猫只把一小部分猎物带回家，所以主人并没有真正看到这种影响，”尼尔说。
Arie Trouwborst, a nature conservation attorney at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, sees this issue as a major problem.
荷兰蒂尔堡大学自然保护律师 Arie Trouwborst 认为这个问题是一个大问题。
Take, for example, many endangered species laws, which institute fines and other penalties for killing protected plants and animals.
以许多濒危物种法为例，这些法律对杀害受保护的植物和动物规定了罚款和其他处罚。
If you or your child did so, you would be fined.
如果您或您的孩子这样做，您将被罚款。
Same goes for your dog.
你的狗也一样。
But your cat?
但你的猫呢？
There, owners are often let off the hook.
在那里，业主常常可以摆脱困境。
“Many authorities will take the position that these rules do not actually apply, and that that it is okay to let these cats outdoors,” he says.
“许多当局会采取这样的立场：这些规则实际上并不适用，并且可以让这些猫到户外，”他说。
Many cat owners shrug off the issue, Trouwborst says.
特劳博斯特说，许多猫主人对这个问题不屑一顾。
For some, it’s the same disconnect that Niel described in Guelph, a divide between what’s known about cat behavior and what some cat owners think about their own, specific cats.
对于一些人来说，这与尼尔在贵湖所描述的脱节是一样的，即对猫行为的了解与一些猫主人对自己的特定猫的看法之间的分歧。
To Trouwborst, the bigger issue is our tolerance of unrestrained roaming.
对于 Trouwborst 来说，更大的问题是我们对无限制漫游的容忍度。
The idea of unfettered, al fresco freedom is so elemental to felines — it’s what makes a cat, a cat — that we don’t question it.
无拘无束、户外自由的理念对猫科动物来说是如此重要——这就是猫之所以成为猫的原因——以至于我们不会质疑它。
When we see an unleashed dog running free, many of us call the owner or animal control.
当我们看到一只被解开的狗自由奔跑时，我们中的许多人都会打电话给主人或动物控制中心。
There’s a tacit understanding that a dog must always be restrained, confined or supervised.
人们有一种默契，那就是狗必须始终受到约束、限制或监督。
A wandering kitty, on the other hand, typically elicits a shrug or a pspspspsps .
另一方面，一只流浪的小猫通常会引起耸肩或 pspspspsps 。
It’s reflected in how we hold dog owners responsible for the actions of their pets but more frequently let cat owners off the hook, Trouwborst says.
特劳博斯特说，这反映在我们如何让狗主人对宠物的行为负责，但更常见的是让猫主人摆脱困境。
What results, he writes in a 2020 paper in the journal People and Nature, is a giant loophole in endangered species legislation.
他在 2020 年《人类与自然》杂志上发表的一篇论文中写道，结果是濒危物种立法中存在巨大漏洞。
“We didn’t come up with anything that might constitute a valid justification for not applying the law.
“我们没有提出任何可能构成不适用法律的有效理由的理由。
So the hypothesis that’s left is that this is just politically unattractive for government bodies to engage with,” Trouborst says.
因此，剩下的假设是，这对于政府机构来说在政治上没有吸引力，”特鲁博斯特说。
Their solution?
他们的解决方案？
They simply ignore it, he says.
他说，他们只是忽略了这一点。
The problem, however, isn’t just the occasional feline snacking on one of our feathered friends.
然而，问题不仅仅在于猫科动物偶尔会吃掉我们的一位有羽毛的朋友。
Most parts of the environment are so disturbed by humans that a one-off predation wouldn’t even be a blip on the radar.
环境的大部分地区都受到人类的干扰，一次性的捕食甚至不会成为雷达上的一个信号。
The problem is the sheer number of cats roaming the outdoors.
问题是户外闲逛的猫数量庞大。
Collectively, these house pets have an impact even if each individual cat isn’t always a lean, mean, furry killing machine.
总的来说，这些家养宠物会产生影响，即使每只猫并不总是瘦削、卑鄙、毛茸茸的杀人机器。
Although I can’t quantify the positive impact my cats have had on my life, their impact on the environment can be.
虽然我无法量化我的猫对我的生活产生的积极影响，但它们对环境的影响是可以的。
And it’s not pretty.
这并不漂亮。
Each year, cats collectively kill billions of birds, rodents, insects, reptiles and amphibians.
每年，猫总共杀死数十亿只鸟类、啮齿动物、昆虫、爬行动物和两栖动物。
They routinely make lists of the world’s worst invasive species .
他们经常列出世界上最严重的入侵物种名单。
Free-ranging cats have been implicated in the extinction of Lyall’s wren in New Zealand and contributed to the extinction of 33 other species , and are considered a major threat to others, especially on an island like New Zealand — where birds, otherwise, have no natural land predators.
自由放养的猫科动物与新西兰莱尔鹪鹩的灭绝有关，并导致其他 33 个物种的灭绝，并被认为是对其他物种的主要威胁，尤其是在像新西兰这样的岛屿上，因为那里的鸟类没有天敌。
To conservationists, it’s a major crisis.
对于自然资源保护主义者来说，这是一场重大危机。
Pet cats aren’t the only ones causing this murder and mayhem.
宠物猫并不是造成这起谋杀和混乱的唯一原因。
A major issue that’s far more challenging than merely deciding to keep Fluffy inside is the large number of unowned cats roaming our streets and wilderness.
一个比仅仅决定把毛毛关在家里更具挑战性的主要问题是大量无主猫在我们的街道和荒野中游荡。
One of the biggest challenges is figuring out what the heck to call them.
最大的挑战之一是弄清楚如何称呼它们。
The most common term is feral cat.
最常见的术语是野猫。
Unlike a stray cat that may be fearful but has had some contact with humans, feral cats have limited to no contact with humans and remain highly fearful.
与可能害怕但与人类有过一些接触的流浪猫不同，野猫与人类几乎没有接触，并且仍然高度恐惧。
Even the friendliest housecat can have kittens that grow up to be feral if they don’t become comfortable around humans in their early development, between three to 12 weeks.
即使是最友善的家猫，如果在三到十二周的早期发育阶段不能适应人类的生活，它们的小猫长大后也会变得野性。
“It’s not a descriptor with positive connotations,” says Kris Hill, a doctoral student in anthrozoology at England’s University of Exeter.
“这不是一个具有积极含义的描述符，”英国埃克塞特大学人类学博士生克里斯·希尔 (Kris Hill) 说。
“It’s not an endearment or a good word.”
“这不是一种爱意，也不是一句好话。”
The definition of feral has life-or-death implications.
野性的定义具有生死攸关的意义。
Being labeled as “feral” is often grounds for being euthanized at many animal shelters.
在许多动物收容所，被贴上“野生”的标签往往是被安乐死的理由。
Even so-called “no-kill” shelters can euthanize animals with “severe or untreatable illnesses or behavior issues,” according to the American Humane Society .
据美国人道协会称，即使是所谓的“不杀戮”收容所也可以对患有“严重或无法治疗的疾病或行为问题”的动物实施安乐死。
In Australia, legislation classifies feral cats as pests and permits communities to poison, trap and shoot the cats under certain circumstances.
在澳大利亚，立法将野猫列为害虫，并允许社区在某些情况下毒害、诱捕和射杀野猫。
Some U.S. municipalities have laws banning people from feeding feral cats while simultaneously requiring owners of pet cats to provide them with adequate food and shelter.
美国一些城市制定了法律，禁止人们喂养野猫，同时要求宠物猫的主人为它们提供充足的食物和住所。
Same animal, different rules.
同样的动物，不同的规则。
Using the word “feral” is a way for us to mentally distance ourselves from the cat — to “other” it, Hill says.
希尔说，使用“野性”这个词是我们在精神上与猫保持距离的一种方式——与它“不同”。
As I speak with Hill, I realize that many of us have a disconnect about feral cats that’s the flip side of our attitude toward outdoor cats.
当我与希尔交谈时，我意识到我们中的许多人对野猫有一种脱节，这是我们对户外猫态度的另一面。
We think of the feral cat as a cold-blooded killer unlike the beloved sweet kitty — as capable of similar assault — that curls up on our cat tree at home and later, purrs us into a deep slumber.
我们认为野猫是冷血杀手，与心爱的可爱小猫不同，野猫也有类似的攻击能力，它会蜷缩在家里的猫树上，然后发出呼噜声让我们沉沉睡去。
Feral cats have gained the reputation of being disease-ridden, aggressive and anti-social.
野猫因疾病缠身、攻击性强和反社会而闻名。
There’s some truth to this.
这有一定道理。
Unfixed cats fight and yowl at all hours of the day.
不固定的猫一天中的任何时候都会打架和嚎叫。
Cats spray urine to mark their territory, tomcats to signal their reproductive availability, which can leave a musky, pungent smell.
猫喷尿是为了标记自己的领地，雄猫则是为了表明它们的繁殖能力，尿液会留下麝香、刺鼻的气味。
Cat intestines are also required for the single-celled parasite Toxoplasma to complete its life cycle, and can cause disease in humans and other mammals.
单细胞寄生虫弓形虫也需要猫肠来完成其生命周期，并且可以引起人类和其他哺乳动物的疾病。
Scientists have identified devastating Toxoplasma outbreaks in marine mammals, infected when contaminated water made its way to the sea.
科学家们发现，海洋哺乳动物中爆发了毁灭性的弓形虫疫情，当受污染的水流入大海时，它们就会受到感染。
But this doesn’t mean that feral cats don’t have rich social lives with other cats or that they should be universally reviled, Hill says.
但这并不意味着野猫与其他猫没有丰富的社交生活，也不意味着它们应该受到普遍的辱骂，希尔说。
It’s a view that’s shared by many who advocate for TNR as a humane, compassionate way to reduce the number of unowned cats.
许多主张 TNR 的人都认同这一观点，认为这是一种人道、富有同情心的方式，可以减少无主猫的数量。
Hard evidence on whether TNR works is scarce and inconclusive.
关于 TNR 是否有效的确凿证据很少且尚无定论。
So, for that matter, is evidence of the efficacy of euthanizing feral cats.
因此，就此而言，有证据表明对野猫实施安乐死是有效的。
But not everyone believes that TNR is humane or appropriate.
但并不是所有人都认为 TNR 是人道的或适当的。
Bird conservation organizations like the National Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy condemn TNR as ineffective and inappropriate.
国家奥杜邦协会和美国鸟类保护协会等鸟类保护组织谴责 TNR 无效且不恰当。
Spayed and neutered cats still hunt, after all.
毕竟，绝育后的猫仍然会捕猎。
Even People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals objects, arguing that “although altering feral cats prevents future generations from suffering, it does not protect cats from the litany of other problems that they may encounter.
就连善待动物组织也表示反对，认为“虽然改变野猫可以防止后代遭受痛苦，但并不能保护猫免受可能遇到的一系列其他问题的影响。
Allowing feral cats to continue their daily struggle for survival in a hostile environment is rarely a humane option.” Often the best option, PETA says, is euthanizing the cats.
让野猫在恶劣的环境中继续日常的生存斗争很少是一个人道的选择。”善待动物组织表示，通常最好的选择是对猫实施安乐死。
What’s more, the presence of cared-for feral cat colonies encourages people to dump their unwanted cats.
更重要的是，受到照顾的野猫群的存在鼓励人们抛弃不想要的猫。
The TNR challenges faced by Save a Gato in San Juan are echoed across the United States and around the world.
圣胡安 Save a Gato 组织面临的 TNR 挑战在美国和世界各地引起共鸣。
If humans can’t agree on what a feral cat is and what it means to live your life as a feral animal, then it’s probably not surprising that we also can’t agree on how to approach the problem of feral cats.
如果人类无法就什么是野猫以及作为野猫过着什么样的生活达成一致，那么我们在如何解决野猫问题上也无法达成一致就不足为奇了。
As Wald spoke to wildlife advocates and cat rescues across Florida, she found that nearly everyone recognized that the state had far too many unowned cats and that communities needed to bring those numbers down.
当沃尔德与佛罗里达州的野生动物倡导者和猫救援组织交谈时，她发现几乎每个人都认识到该州有太多无主的猫，社区需要减少这些数字。
But even this agreement on the fundamentals of an issue isn’t enough to convince both sides to work together.
但即使就问题的基本原理达成一致，也不足以说服双方共同努力。
Different values and priorities make that seemingly impossible.
不同的价值观和优先事项使得这看起来不可能。
Both sides, Wald says, value animal life.
沃尔德说，双方都重视动物的生命。
Cat advocates told her that their beloved four-legged felines have as much right to life as other animals, and are only one of many species that kill birds and rodents.
猫科动物倡导者告诉她，他们心爱的四足猫科动物与其他动物一样享有生命权，而且只是许多杀死鸟类和啮齿动物的物种之一。
(After all, bird populations are in decline for many reasons, including habitat loss largely from agriculture, climate change, pesticides and toxins, other invasive species, and their deaths from collisions with glass and other industrial infrastructure.)
（毕竟，鸟类数量下降的原因有很多，包括主要因农业、气候变化、杀虫剂和毒素、其他入侵物种造成的栖息地丧失，以及因与玻璃和其他工业基础设施碰撞而死亡。）
Birders and wildlife lovers say that the value of a wild species far outweighs that of feral and pet cats.
观鸟者和野生动物爱好者表示，野生物种的价值远远超过野猫和宠物猫。
Whereas nearly half of all global bird species are in decline, according to a 2022 State of the Birds report by the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, Felis catus isn’t going anywhere.
根据北美鸟类保护倡议组织 2022 年鸟类状况报告，虽然全球近一半的鸟类数量正在减少，但猫科动物却不会消失。
The point of Wald’s research isn’t to tell communities what species to value, but to figure out how they can come together to address the problem.
沃尔德研究的目的不是告诉社区应该重视哪些物种，而是弄清楚他们如何团结起来解决这个问题。
Officials in Canberra, Australia, for example, created a rule that all newly-adopted cats must be kept indoors, allowing older cats to continue to roam in most neighborhoods.
例如，澳大利亚堪培拉的官员制定了一项规定，所有新收养的猫都必须关在室内，允许老猫继续在大多数社区漫步。
Within a few years, the city’s cat population will be exclusively inside-only (or leashed when outside).
几年之内，这座城市的猫数量将全部集中在室内（或在室外时用皮带拴住）。
Miami-Dade Animal Services in Florida has started paying volunteers $15 for every adult feral cat that they trap and spay or neuter.
佛罗里达州迈阿密戴德动物服务中心已开始向志愿者支付 15 美元，为他们捕获并绝育的每只成年野猫支付 15 美元。
What made these programs work is the recognition that the problem with cats has nothing to do with cats at all.
这些计划之所以能够发挥作用，是因为人们认识到猫的问题与猫根本无关。
The issue is a fundamentally human problem.
这个问题是一个根本性的人类问题。
Even basic veterinary care can be inaccessible to some pet owners.
一些宠物主人甚至无法获得基本的兽医护理。
We let our cats roam instead of keeping them inside or taking a page from the social media hashtag, #adventurecats, and walking them on a leash.
我们让我们的猫四处走动，而不是把它们关在家里，或者从社交媒体标签#adventurecats中获取信息，然后用皮带牵着它们遛狗。
We provide food but don’t spay and neuter them.
我们提供食物，但不给它们绝育。
And when we move, we don’t or can’t always take our cats with us.
当我们搬家时，我们不会或不能总是带着我们的猫。
Even I, knowing all this, played a part by relishing the presence of the cats along Old San Juan’s walkway.
即使我知道这一切，也通过欣赏老圣胡安人行道上猫的存在来发挥作用。
While the chances that I will ever turn down the chance to pet a cat are minimal, I also can’t deny that everyone — residents, tourists, local wildlife, even the cats themselves — would be better off if all cats had indoor homes and the Paseo was magically feline-free.
虽然我拒绝抚摸猫的机会微乎其微，但我也不能否认，如果所有的猫都有室内住宅，并且帕塞奥神奇地没有猫，那么每个人——居民、游客、当地野生动物，甚至猫本身——都会过得更好。
The presence of so many unowned felines is a human failing, and we owe it to ourselves and the animals we love to do better.
这么多无主猫科动物的存在是人类的失败，我们应该为了自己和我们所爱的动物做得更好。