We have often found that if you holiday in an area that has a lot of British living there then generally there are not so many stray animals. We have found this to be particularly so in Majorca where we have holidayed in various parts and not found strays to be a major problem - indeed those cats that we have seen seem to be well cared for.

I think that right across the Med they are trying to persuade owners to have their pets 'done' so as to bring down the number of animals in general.

Greece is probably best avoided and Malta does have a bit of a problem with strays.

Pippa

Perhaps an 'animal friendly' resort just has a policy of removing feral animals from its beaches and public spaces?

Perhaps an 'animal friendly' resort just has a policy of removing feral animals from its beaches and public spaces?

And then putting them down which is hardly 'animal friendly'. Feral cats and dogs, unless caught as kittens and puppies can rarely be re-homed because they just aren't used to humans and can never be turned into family pets. It's little known and understandably they don't publicise it but unfortumately when the RSPCA comes and rounds up feral cat colonies, there's a good chance that many of those over the age of 6 months will be euthanased unless they can be re-homed with people who don't mind having a neutered feral cat resident in their garden. I had one for years but then I do live in a semi-rural situation - he actually slept in my neighbour's outhouse and I fed him twice a day and kept fresh water available for him and he lived out his years in a arrangment that suited us us both.

Tunisia has a big feral population of cats and visitors often complain about hotel grounds being overrun with cats but it strikes me that the situation there is a good compromise. The hotels actually quite like having the cats living in the grounds - it keeps the rodent population under contol and stops guests getting upet by seeing rats around the place! They feed them enough on scraps to ensure that they don't starve but keep they them just hungry enough to ensure that they'll hunt for rats and mice etc. But on a regular basis various animal welfare groups round them all up give them the once and spay/neuter the young ones - cutting off the tip of one ear while they're at it so that they can tell quickly at the next round-up who's been 'done' and who hasn't!

SM

That sounds like a good compromise in Tunisia then SMa. At least they are treated with some degree of kindness and given some scraps, unlike some other places where I have heard the poor strays can be treated quite cruelly

Try the maldives - no stray animals there (in fact dogs are illegal in the Maldives). no cat problems either, just the ocasional screech from a fruit bat or heron to worry about.