The Bermuda Feline Assistance Bureau (BFAB) is calling on Government to find a new approach to deal with feral chickens after a cat was found “near death” from a possible poisoning.A BFAB spokesman said the animal was found on Cooper’s Island Beach a day after Conservation Services culled chickens in the area.“The cat was near death and as a result of its convulsions and suffering had burrowed into the sand,” he said.“The cat is now under the care of a local veterinary hospital but is unlikely to live given possible kidney damage as a result of what the veterinarian indicates is likely poisoning from alpha chloride which is being applied by our Government in response to feral chicken populations.“Despite the stated policies of Conservation Services, given the reports that we have received from other animal groups and local veterinarians wherein both cats, pet chickens and birds have been killed as a consequence of this practice, experts suggest that there is no way that those procedures are followed as pronounced.”The spokesman said BFAB was wholly against Government’s “cruel and myopic” approach towards feral chickens in Bermuda, urging the Ministry to turn to a more sustainable and ethical approach.“In contrast to the citation of how many defenceless animals have been killed with this and other methods, BFAB has spayed over 25,000 cats over the last 20 years and therefore eliminated the birth of hundreds of thousands of cats,” he said. “Nonetheless the population is being supplied by members of the public. And Government continues to fail to implement spay-neuter legislation nor support our efforts in any meaningful way.”A Government spokeswoman however said that while Conservation Services has removed more than 10,500 feral chickens — between 500 and 900 per month — not a single cat has been killed during the process.“We do not intentionally target feral cats, however due to the public feeding of feral cats and feral chickens we are finding that they have a close association,” she said. “To date we have not lost a single cat to chicken baiting.“The Department of Conservation Services also pays the vet bills if there has been even a minute possibility that a cat has been affected as a result of our management.”She said staff follow strict protocols when using sedative bait, taking every possible precaution to ensure no non-target animals are affected.“A site is assessed for the presence of non-target animals prior to the laying of any bait, a non-palatable bait is used (eg bread, which only appeals to a limited number of species), bait is hand-fed to target chickens by an experienced and trained technician,” she said.“The technician stays during the whole operation. Every effort is made to pick up all uneaten bait after the operation and follow up visits are made after the operation is complete.“In this instance DCS staff removed over 70 feral chickens over a four-hour period on Wednesday morning from one of our most important nature reserves. Bait was laid, one piece at a time, on an asphalt surface within Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve. No cats were observed at the site prior to the operation nor during the operation.”She added that the technician returned to the site that afternoon and on Thursday, and made every effort to remove all uneaten bait.In February, Government said it would review its culling methods after complaints that other species were being poisoned. At that time a spokeswoman said trapping efforts had proven unsuccessful or unfeasible, and stressed that alpha chloralose is a bird specific sedative and not effective on mammals.She explained that after the birds have been sedated, they are caught and humanely euthanised. Birds unintentionally sedated can recover if kept in a warm, well ventilated dark box.However SPCA Inspector Glyn Roberts said alpha-chloralose is a poison, saying: “In small doses and in larger animals and birds there may be a chance of recovery but in high doses and in smaller birds ingestion is fatal.”