FERAL CATS are an increasing problem across Tendring, but a Great Bentley couple have helped tackle the issue in their village.

Alan and Judy Bishop of Morella Close trapped and neutered a small colony of cats and with daily feeding has prevented the cats from breeding and moving into other areas.

The retirees warn that cats across the county are dumped daily, easily becoming pregnant, and their kittens soon produce their own kittens, creating colonies in a matter of months.

The cats might not be noticed at first, but in larger numbers, hungry animals will increasingly go for food waste left in rubbish bags, they said.

This happened in Great Bentley last year, when a resident moved away, leaving a cat behind, which then had two kittens. The cats became a nuisance by splitting rubbish bags as they scavenged for food, upsetting residents in the village.

This led the Bishops to trap the three cats, neuter them and start feeding them by the allotment at the back of the village hall. Here, the cats live happily, where they are fed every afternoon at 4pm.

“The allotment holders are pleased as the cats are not damaging their vegetables. Feral cats are territorial and they keep other feral cats away,” Alan explained.

However, another colony of cats appeared at a village school recently and before the couple were able to intervene, contractors instead gassed the animals.

“We did not want these cats to be exterminated,” he said.

Instead, feral cats should be ‘trapped, neutered and returned’ and then fed so they do not cause further problems. This follows national guidelines from organisations such as the RSPCA and the Cats Protection League.

Feral cats cannot be adopted, unless they are still young kittens, Alan warned.

“It’s the first 9 weeks of their lives that will plan it out for them. They need retraining as tiny kittens. After then, they don’t want the comforts that domestic cats seek, they just want to be alone in the wild,” he said.

The couple are happy to advise others on how to run their own similar schemes to tackle feral cats in their villages.

“The basic idea is to stop them breeding, otherwise you will be infested with a colony of 40-odd cats which will be make a nuisance,” he added.

Alan and Judy Bishop can be contacted on 01206-251702.