Student Perception of Feral Cats and Their Effects on Campus Wildlife Page: 4
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research on this issue, yet public perception holds sway on the implementation of TNR programs
in communities. Little has been published in peer-reviewed journals in strict defense of TNR
programs, though there have been many informal publications through online newsletters, such
as alleycatallies.org. In addition, supporters of TNR programs cite scholarly research in animal
welfare to bolster their claims (sensu Hughes and Slater 2002a, 2002b; Scott et al. 2002; Levy et
al. 2003; Natoli et al. 2006; Chu et al. 2009; Finkler et al. 2011la, 2011ib).
In order to better understand student perceptions of the UNT TNR program and to gauge
the impact that the conservation narrative has on perception, this study consists of a survey
instrument that was administered to two undergraduate general science classes (Earth Science
and Archaeological Science) at UNT. The UNT student population was sampled because 1) UNT
represents a community that is regularly exposed to a TNR program, whether or not individuals
are aware of it, 2) student perception and knowledge of this issue can be likened to the general
public's as students from broad core science classes were surveyed, and 3) this issue is becoming
increasingly important in the scientific literature and is of increasing concern to the general
public in urban settings (Loss et al. 2013). Ultimately, understanding what people think about
TNR programs is important because advocacy for and public policy made in regards to TNR are
restricted to what people know and think about the issue. For example, there is a stark contrast
between the opinion that feral cats are "pets that are outside," and feral cats are "predators on the
landscape." In addition, understanding how people perceive of the ecological information about
TNR programs is important because conservation biology is an inherently mission-oriented field
(Soule 1985). If conservationists who are concerned about the impacts of free-ranging cats are
not actively building effective policy through engaging a well-informed public, then
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Dombrosky, Jonathan. Student Perception of Feral Cats and Their Effects on Campus Wildlife, thesis or dissertation, Spring 2013; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1873014/m1/4/: accessed June 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Honors College.