PREVET-2214; No of Pages 6 Management of feral domestic cats in the urban environment of Rome (Italy) Eugenia Natoli a, * , Laura Maragliano a , Giuseppe Cariola a , Anna Faini b , Roberto Bonanni c , Simona Cafazzo d , Claudio Fantini b a Azienda USL Rome D, Dipartimental Area of Veterinary Public Health, Veterinary Hospital, via della Magliana 856, 00148 Rome, Italy b Azienda USL Rome D, Dipartimental Area of Veterinary Public Health, Direzione, via Portuense 1397, 00050 Ponte Galeria, Rome, Italy c University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy d University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy Received 27 September 2004; received in revised form 24 May 2006; accepted 23 June 2006 Abstract In Italy, which is rabies-free, the national Law No. 281 [Legge Nazionale 14 agosto 1991. No. 281: Legge Quadro in materia di animali di affezione e prevenzione del randagismo. Gazz. Uff. Rep. Ital. no 203 del 30 agosto 1991: p. 3] on the management of pets and on the control of feral cats has introduced the no-kill policy for this species. Thus, ‘‘trap-neuter-release’’ (TNR) programs have been carried out for >10 years. In this paper we present data on registered colonies and censused cats in Rome from 1991 to 2000; the results of the neutering campaign from 1991 to 2000; and a survey, on 103 cat colonies, on the effects of demographic control of urban feral-cat colonies in the city of Rome, carried out by the local Veterinary Public Services (VPS) in collaboration with the associations of cat care-takers. In 10 years almost 8000 were neutered and reintroduced in their original colony. The spay/neuter campaigns brought about a general decrease in cat number but the percentage of cat immigration (due to abandonment and spontaneous arrival) is around 21%. This suggests that all these efforts without an effective www.elsevier.com/locate/prevetmed Preventive Veterinary Medicine xxx (2006) xxx–xxx * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 06 52287 7641; fax: +39 06 52287 7647. E-mail address: enatoli@tiscali.it (E. Natoli). 0167-5877/$ – see front matter # 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2006.06.005 Please cite this article in press as: Natoli, E. et al., Management of feral domestic cats in the urban environment of Rome (Italy), Prev. Vet. Med. (2006), doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2006.06.005