Cat owners urged to keep cultured kittys at home; feral cat trapping ramps up

But more importantly, the stray cats are wiping out native Keys species like the Key Largo woodrat, Dixon said, a species found only in the Crocodile Lake refuge.
Responding to complaints from outdoor cat owners upset about a cat trapping program implanted last year, Dixon said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reached out to them and offered to help build outdoor enclosures, known as “catios.” He also said that remote cameras the FWS set up within the refuge show cats roaming the area at night and hunting.
“We didn’t know how much of an issue this was until we started using the remote cameras,” he said.
Cat owner and dive-shop owner Spencer Slate, who lives across State Road 905 from the refuge, said his cats have been trapped in a wooded lot adjacent to his house, which is not in the refuge.