On the prowl

Those seeking to control mosquito-borne diseases have come up with a clever strategy.

Most female mosquitoes breed only once in a lifetime. It's not necessary to kill all those mosquitoes if you can simply increase the odds of each female mating with an infertile male, leaving her barren.

So scientists introduce a bacterium that sterilizes the male mosquitoes. Repeat the process over several generations, and "eventually the last female mates with a sterile male, and "it's 'game over' for the mosquito," explains Stephen Dobson, an associate professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to work for cats, since fertile house cats are a lot better at ignoring their "fixed" cousins and seeking out fertile mates, even over long distances.

And that could prove the Achilles' heel of the well intentioned cat-neutering program adopted by unanimous vote of the Clark County Commission last week.

The vote removes the prohibition on feeding feral cat colonies in urban parts of the county -- though that ban remains in place in rural areas, out of concern over bird predation by these house cats gone wild.

Instead, the County Commission voted unanimously Sept. 16 to create a "trap, neuter and return" program to replace the decades-old practice of simply rounding up strays and killing them.

The motivation is easy to understand. Americans love their pets. For many, the vision of large numbers of blameless cuddly creatures being "put down" and hauled to the landfill is heart-wrenching. Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who spearheaded the change, argued her plan is a more humane and effective way to curb the feral cat population -- now estimated at 200,000 -- than killing the animals. If the cats are sterilized, eventually the colonies die off, she said.

Opponents -- who worry about predation of wild birds even in urban areas -- have their doubts. Some national research challenges the claim that the feral cat colonies die off when managed under trap-and-neuter programs, says John Hiatt, chairman of the Enterprise Town Advisory Board.

On balance, we'd bet the cats will survive in good numbers -- in part because a puss in heat wastes little time with neutered males, in part because Ms. Giunchigliani's follow-up proposal to require spaying and neutering of house pets will prove mighty hard to enforce.

The plan is well intentioned. It's worth a try. But if you're looking for the surest bet here, look to Ms. Giunchigliani's blithe assurance that private grants, rather than tax dollars, will pay for all the program's costs.

Grants run out. Programs, once launched, take on a life of their own. Hang that guarantee on the wall next to "The income tax will only affect millionaires"; "The taxpayers will never have to bail out Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac"; and "The check is in the mail."