HEBER SPRINGS — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says it will trap a colony of feral cats at an access point to the Little Red River near Heber Springs.
The commission said Wednesday that the cats prowling the Barnett Access are posing a threat to human health and to wildlife in the area.
The cats regularly kill birds and are estimated to kill twice as many mammals as they do birds.
The agency says that the cats transmit disease through droppings, fleas, bites and scratches. They can transmit illnesses that include rabies, toxoplasmosis, hook worms, and typhus.
Wildlife officers will set non-lethal traps at night baited with sardines. The traps will be collected each morning.
Game and Fish is working with the Heber Springs Humane Society on the project.