This lethal control method is regarded as ecologically effective, but it might be less acceptable to some social groups, including females, urban residents, and those who hold wildlife rights value orientations. Another strategy for managing stray cat populations involves permanent removal (trap and euthanize). While conservationists argue that the TNR method is often ineffective in controlling stray cat populations or reducing the negative environmental impacts caused by these animals. This method is considered a humane approach and has been promoted by cat advocacy and animal welfare groups. One common strategy for managing stray cat populations is the trap-neuter-return (TNR) method which involves the capture, sterilization, and return of the cats to the capture site. People’s preferences for management strategies are also various. Stray cat population management is often controversial, likely due to cats’ dual role as pets or pests depending on the context. Thus, interventions are needed to control stray cat populations and reduce the associated problems. Reported complaints regarding stray cats include public health and environmental sanitation, public nuisances, ecological impacts of cats killing birds, small mammals, and reptiles, as well as the animal welfare of the cats themselves. Worldwide, stray cat ( Felis catus) population management is an important issue. Policies would benefit by taking this source of information into the decision-making process. In addition, this study also suggested that social media data can provide useful information about people’s opinions on wild animals and their management.
Based on these findings, we suggested that management policies should be dedicated to (1) communicating to the (potential) cat feeders about the negative aspects of irresponsible feeding behaviors (2) raising “ecological awareness” campaigns for the public as well as highlighting the environmental impacts caused by stray cats (3) understanding citizens’ perceptions toward different management scenarios and making decisions accordingly. The results showed that: (1) there were some irresponsible feeding behaviors among citizens (2) public perceptions of the ecological impacts caused by stray cats were unlike (3) the trap-neuter-return (TNR) method served high support in public discussion (4) knowledge about stray cats’ ecological impacts was positively correlated with support for the lethal control methods in management. Through the techniques of natural language processing, we obtained each Weibo post’s topics and sentiment propensity. Using user-generated content from Weibo, this study investigated Chinese citizens’ opinions on stray cats on a large scale.
The management of stray cats is often contentious because public perceptions about these animals are different.
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