Tomorrow, October 16, 2013 is National Feral Cat Day. It's a wonderful day to teach your students many different concepts like being responsible pet owners, being respectful of animal life of all types, and most especially the plight of feral cats, which is discussed in greater detail below. For activities and games that can be used in the classroom or at home, check out PrintablesFree.com's section of free printable games. You'll find crossword puzzles, word searches, board games, jigsaw puzzles and math games. They have games for all different ages and ability levels, so print out several to accommodate everyone in your family if you plan to use them at home. As an educational tool, everyone will need to be working on the same activity.
Free Printable Mazes to Work Your Brain
Like crossword puzzles and word search puzzles, mazes provide yet another way to give your brain a workout. As you figure out which way to go to get through to the end, you're using critical thinking skills much like those used in driving, when walking on an unfamiliar street and more. The free printable cat maze is an excellent one to use for National Feral Cat Day. As you can see, the cat is trying to make its way to the rat to catch it. It may seem unpleasant, but feral cats are very useful in helping to control the population of rodents like rats and mice. Discuss this with your students as they complete the maze. For more interesting facts about feral cats, check out the facts and trivia section below.
Facts and Trivia About Feral Cats
- Although feral cats can be useful, it is important to control their population. Cats reproduce quickly and have several cats per litter. If gone uncontrolled, a cat can have many litters over her lifetime. Capturing the feral cats is especially important in spaying or neutering them and releasing them back into the wild. Feral cats should only be captured by adults who are qualified to do capture and release with these animals.
- How do we get feral cats? They are usually the offspring of domesticated cats that were either strays or ran away. As the generations continue, the cats become more wild. Cats do not usually like humans unless they are socialized with humans as young kittens.
- Feral cats can live in a variety of environments. While many take to the forest in search of food, others hang around apartment complexes and restaurants and are dependent on the food they are given or the food they can find in the trash.
- In the United States, there are estimated to be between 60 - 120 million feral cats.
- Do-gooders have begun establishing feral cat colonies to keep the cats safe. These cats live nearly as long as domesticated cats. Feral cats in the wild or on the streets, however, do not often live long.
