This week’s post is sparked by Dr. Coleman’s class revolving around the ethics of environmental decision-making. Dr. Coleman’s reply to my post regarding cat poop has struck me how fragile both humans and animals are to parasites and other people’s decisions.
The Toxoplasma Gondii parasite that only the Felidae family carries not only affects wildlife; it is also a zoonotic disease that can spread to humans as well. As such, I’ll be focusing on owned Free-ranging domestic cats, whereby their owners allow them to roam around freely.
Question: Should the government allow roaming of cats, knowing their impacts on the health of otters and humans?
Let us do it step-by-step like in Dr. Coleman’s class activity!
If a strict ban on roaming cats is not ideal, we could look at other drivers of accumulating cat poop, which includes abandoned cats and the presence of unowned FRDCs.
Before we answer the main question, I feel that another alternative can be looking into reducing abandonment rates, which would seem like an ethical move. But would it truly solve this complex multi-stakeholder issue? Not to forget the bigger issue, the unowned FRDCs or feral cats.
Let’s look into it next week!
***If you have anything to add regarding the Prezi, do let me know! Inputs are welcome 🙂
References:
Centers for Diseases Control and Preventation. n.d. Toxoplasmosis. [online] Available at: <https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/> [Accessed 6 November 2020].
Elton, C. (1953). The use of cats in farm rat control. The British Journal of Animal Behaviour, 4(1), 151-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0950-5601(53)80015-8.
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for sharing about this very interesting issue, and I think your Prezi is awesome! I hope this question doesn’t deviate too far from the point of this post, but I’m curious as to how significant this issue is here in Singapore? I read from this website (https://www.omicsonline.org/singapore/toxoplasmosis-peer-reviewed-pdf-ppt-articles/) that Toxoplasmosis infects 10% of the Singapore population, making it extremely common, but we hardly hear of it being a problem among the people. Our otters also seem to be doing fine, but perhaps that’s because their population here is too insignificant? But anyway, I just want to ask, does this mean we are doing something right in mitigating the effects of this disease and its spread? If so, what are we doing right? Do correct me if I’m wrong in my understanding of this issue!
Looking forward to your continuation of this post, and I’ll try to ask a more relevant question on the ethics of this issue then. Cheers and thanks for the great read Rachel!
Hi Marcus!
Thank you for reading my blog and raising such an interesting question! I do find your question relevant since the way Singapore water treatment may be a potential solution in preventing Toxoplasmosis gondii from entering the seas (and to the sea otters).
I did some research and found out that Singapore’s water treatment plant uses a four-stage treatment process which includes conventional treatment, micro-filtration, reverse osmosis and UV treatment.
UV treatment is the interesting process! I went to study up on what the UV treatments target, and turns out Toxoplasma gondii can be inactivated by the UV rays.
Our used waters would be channeled to one of our 4 water reclamation plants via water sewages to receive treatment. The treated wastewater would then be discharged into the outfalls (e.g Changi outfalls). It is usually discharged via the diffuses as deep-sea discharge.
Since the water is treated with UV, my guess is that the Singapore otters are relatively safe!
As for US, I did a quick research and noticed that their water treatment does not include UV treatment (Not really sure, I was reading up on the Municipal Water Treatment Processes and on CDC’s page on water treatment)
Though they do use chemicals like chlorine which is unfortunately not enough to kill the Toxoplasma gondii.
Another bigger factor of why the otters in the US are fall victim to Toxoplasma Gondii would be the big population of domestic cats in the US. This would mean more poop and a higher probability of it containing Toxoplasma gondii oocyst.
To answer your question, I think the issue is not as significant in Singapore, since it may not be well-studied, given the otter’s small population size of about 70. Also, I do think the water treatment in Singapore is sufficient in mitigating the effects. Even though the otters are relatively safe, Toxoplasma gondii can still spread to humans via consumption of uncooked meat or when clearing cat poops.
Thank you for the wonderful question! From your question, I do think another stakeholder could be the water treatment agencies/supervisors, I’ll add it as one of the stakeholders as part of the decision making process!
Thank you 🙂
– Rachel
OMG Rachel, I was so proud of the growth you’ve demonstrated that I actually teared up watching your Prezi. Amazing job!
Hi Dr Coleman!
Thank you so much for all the encouragement, thorough feedback, and suggestions! I really appreciate that you spent so much time in helping me improve, even when I found my own work hopeless :’) I do feel I still need to improve on my grammar.. Grammarly is screaming red all the time.
Thank you!
-Rachel
One day at a time. 🙂
You’re more than welcome.
Hi Rachel,
That was a very thorough analysis! I was wondering if encouraging more vet checkups for the cats would help in this case? Would that be one of the measures that could be taken? Thanks!
Clive
Hi Clive!
Thank you for reading my blog and the analysis!
I’m glad you raised the point about bringing the cats for checkups, it got me wondering if owners are encouraged to check if their cats could have the possibility of having Toxoplasmosis gondii. Currently, in the US (and probably all the rest of the world), there is no encouragement or recommendation to test healthy cats for Toxoplasma gondii. Given the zoonotic health impacts on humans, I wonder why is that so. It could be possible that the diagnosis process could be expensive, since the diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii in cats requires serological testing (related to antibodies). This train of thought prompted me to search up if there are vaccinations for toxoplasmosis.
Unfortunately, the feasibility of Toxoplasmosis gondii vaccination for cats may not be possible for large population of cats, and requires more research. A ray of hope would be that toxoplasmosis in cats can be treated using an antibiotic known as Clindamycin.
With that said, your question does highlight the fact that veterinarians should be part of the stakeholders too! With a hopeful alternative of a Toxoplasma gondii vaccination for cats as one of the solutions (with unknown consequences) for this cat poop killing otters situation.
Thank you for the insightful question!
Cheers
– Rachel