To quote a feral cat expert …
“It has a good general summary of the characteristics and history of the cat population, and in relation to a point we discussed the other day there is a useful analysis of the genetic similarities and dis-similarities of house, stray and feral cats” – see page 7.
That analysis shows that while house cats and stray cats from the same region tend to be genetically similar, that is not true of house/stray cats versus feral cats.
In turn, this suggests that while stray cats are typically house cats that have become independent, feral cats are usually not stray cats that have moved into the wild. For management purposes, this tells us that the feral cat population is largely independent of the house/stray cat population, and management of house and stray cats is unlikely to have much effect on the abundance and impacts of feral cats. However, better management of house cats ought to reduce the abundance of stray cats.”
The Paper can be accessed here …
http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/11/27/jhered.esv095.abstract
