The hardships ferals face

This page is so true, people think feral cats have it easy but they don't! http://www.peta.org/features/images-will-change-mind-feral-cats/

PETA wants to kill all ferals. I don't suppose any wild animal has it "easy", but that's their life and it's the way nature intended (well, human cruelty is not what nature intended of course). A true feral is a wild animal, we should remember that. To control their numbers we should TNR but it does them no favors to try to control their lives completely. Trying to treat ferals like pet cats is one thing that actually leads to cruelty, and we shouldn't encourage it. No tame cat should ever be made to fend for itself but true ferals manage as well as any other wild creature.

Oh, yes, I want to warn other readers that the link is VERY graphic and unpleasant, wouldn't want anyone clicking on that unsuspectingly.

Willowy said:

Trying to treat ferals like pet cats is one thing that actually leads to cruelty, and we shouldn't encourage it. No tame cat should ever be made to fend for itself but true ferals manage as well as any other wild animal

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I don't get what your saying? Ferals are wild to a point depending on where ferals live, and regardless they all are somehow related to pet cats at one point or another that people never got fixed there not a native wild animal. Treating a feral like a pet cat isn't cruel depending on what your saying. Keeping a feral locked in a house is cruel, feeding it and getting it fixed and providing it shelter and watching out for it is not cruel, but you also do that for your pet cats too so there isn't much of a difference really.

For example a feral is a cat born without any human interaction or socialization providing food for itself. However in busy cities, ferals scavenge in garbages and yards nightly and are used to hearing people, so even though they are feral they actually are partly accustomed to people. One of my pet cats was a former feral. Born to a feral mother, survived on her own for 2 years without any person feeding her. I slowly started feeding her and giving her cat toys from my house with human scent, and slowly getting her used to me being in yard while she eats, she used to only eat in the dark and hiss and growl at me while eating. Eventually after months she came up to me, she was in heat and started rubbing against me and growled, again a feral but learned to trust humans. Trapped her and got her spayed and bought her inside and after 2 days she acted like a pet cat and nobody knew she used to be feral she is great at vets too, so its untrue ferals cannot be pet cats you just have to work very hard to get them used to people.

And I've seen wild animals ill but wildlife rescue helps them so most animals in need get help from kind people or they die eventually.

I'm not focusing on PETA I was just sharing because I cared for ferals and saw some like in the images and its sad seeing any animal suffer.

The site you linked to encourages people to take ferals to a shelter, where they will be killed. They want to eradicate free-roaming cats (and, some say, all domestic animals). Yes, we should encourage people to be responsible owners, not let their cats reproduce, if you feed them fix them, etc. But that article is not encouraging that, it's encouraging killing them.

I recognize that ferals can become pets; I have several ferals who live in my house in fact---not even formerly feral, but fully feral. But that isn't an option for all ferals, and trying to micromanage an outdoor feral's life would be like trying to micromanage a raccoon or squirrel, and is not in their best interests. Getting it into people's heads that a feral cat is neglected and suffering leads them to have the cats killed, because they've decided that's kinder. You don't see people wanting to round up all the raccoons and squirrels and have them put to sleep because they might get run over or something.

When you put it that way, I understand and agree with you fully.

Anti-feral cat propaganda is one of several reason why I hate PETA. They argue for the "ethical" treatment of animals and yet endorse euthanizing ferals because a feral cat's life is "hard." By their reasoning, we should euthanize the mentally ill, the elderly with Alzheimer's, the mentally retarded, and those who suffer from chronic pain or disabilities. Life is hard, period. I've had fully domesticated cats who have had to deal with diabetes, arthritis, IBS, hyperthyroidism, and a host of other problems--and yet have led, and continue to lead, relatively content lives. The last feral cat I took in, Mia, was shot by someone as a kitten. Her leg broke and somehow healed on its own, but a bit crooked, so she moves in a funny manner. She also still has the bullet lodged in her pelvis. She has chronic constipation and mild asthma. I've had her for 5 months--since she was 10 months old--and she sleeps with me on my bed, allows me to pet her, and loves to play with me and her wand toy 3 times a day. I am very glad she was not trapped and subjected to mercy killing by a PETA nut before I was able to trap and care for her myself. My neighbors and I have adopted and socialized 5 ferals cats, and they are all very happy, spoiled indoor only cats, and two of them were supposedly past the age where one could socialize a feral cat.

PETA is also very wrong when it comes to understanding the nature of feral cats. They are NOT wild like a raccoon, opossum or squirrel. They are still considered a domesticated animal, capable of socialization to humans, and dependent on human caregivers for survival. Anyone can google this subject and read unbiased information on this subject.

I have one feral cat I've been taking care of for almost two and a half years. He will not come into my house and does not want to be petted, but he will allow me to sit beside him and does not run when I approach. He has a cedar wood pet house on my porch that he uses in cold weather (like  now). I feed him very well (he does not hunt), and have nursed him back to health with chicken broth and antibiotics when he was sick . He knows his name and in normal weather will lounge around in my yard and other peoples' yards during the day time. He is a true feral and will likely never come into my house, but I fully consider him to be one of my cats. Yes, he may get run over by a car or get an illness that I cannot help him with, and maybe die sooner than my indoor cats--but his life will have been worthwhile and will have mattered to me and others who have grown to care about him. I know that there are many people who care for feral cats on this site who feel as I do.

MsAimee said:

Anti-feral cat propaganda is one of several reason why I hate PETA. They argue for the "ethical" treatment of animals and yet endorse euthanizing ferals because a feral cat's life is "hard." By their reasoning, we should euthanize the mentally ill, the elderly with Alzheimer's, the mentally retarded, and those who suffer from chronic pain or disabilities. Life is hard, period. I've had fully domesticated cats who have had to deal with diabetes, arthritis, IBS, hyperthyroidism, and a host of other problems--and yet have led, and continue to lead, relatively content lives.

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Keith, you may be interested in reading these articles:

Part 1: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/douglas-anthony-cooper/peta-kill_b_1352462.html
Part 2: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/douglas-anthony-cooper/peta-kill_b_1387030.html
Part 3: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/douglas-anthony-cooper/petas-ingrid-newkirk-evil_b_1417663.html?ref=tw
Part 4: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/douglas-anthony-cooper/peta-jennifer-lawrence_b_1428134.html
Part 5: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/douglas-anthony-cooper/bill-maher-peta_b_1472795.html

Nathan Winograd (Director, No Kill Advocacy Center): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-j-winograd/peta-kills-puppies-kittens_b_2979220.html