Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

The trap-neuter-return (TNR) method for outdoor cat management is widely utilized, but wildlife advocates have argued in recent years that TNR does not reduce cat population size and does not mitigate the threat of cat predation. In this article, we suggest that the current practice of TNR is rarely optimized for population control, and that its potential effectiveness for accomplishing population control has therefore not been clearly determined. We further suggest that it would be possible to implement larger-scale TNR “flagship” programs that are optimized for population management, and by doing so to more definitively assess the capabilities and limitations of TNR as a population management tool. This knowledge would provide a better basis for identifying situationally-appropriate management strategies through a consensus-building process.