Commonly known as feral cats, these cats are captured in remote areas by the government for the purpose of protecting rare animals. In Cherubim, we call them "Captive Cats" to mean cats that have been caught.

(Details of the cat catching project on the Okinawa Prefecture websiteis stated)

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Despite the discriminatory name "feral cat", it is biologically an ordinary domestic cat, the same as a house cat or a stray cat. Some cats are scared and unfamiliar with people, but on the other hand, there are also captive cats that have been very friendly and have become familiar with people since the time they were rescued. In the past, there were also captive cats wearing collars, sakura-eared cats (with ear cuts) that were local cats that had been spayed and neutered, and cats with microchips.

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Since 2001, the Ministry of the Environment, and since 2002, the Okinawa Prefectural Government has been catching and removing cats in remote forests in order to protect rare animals in Yanbaru, northern Okinawa. Captive cats are destined to be euthanized if there is no one to take them.

Cats captured by the government are transferred to Cherubim if no one can take them. This cat is Ugari-kun captured by Kunigami Village in December 2021. After taking care of them at Cherubim, we isolate them in cages to check for diseases, conduct blood tests, perform spaying and neutering, and then search for foster parents.

​There are many cats who are unfamiliar and timid at first, but after a while become attached to humans.

After undergoing blood tests and spaying/neutering, the captive cats will make their debut in the forest room of Nyangusk, a protected cat cafe in Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture, and start looking for foster parents.

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The cats, who were not used to people at first, will gradually become friendly by interacting with customers and breeding staff at the cafe.

When Yuenan was about two months old, he was caught in a trap set up in Ogimi Village. From the time it was captured, it had a friendly personality, so it is thought that it was not a feral cat, but a stray cat or a local cat that was attached to people. Two months after taking care of her at Cherubim, she was able to find a foster family and is now living happily as a domestic cat.

"Noneko Management Plan" launched in 2018 by Amami Oshima, Kagoshima Prefecture aiming for World Heritage registration

Over the course of 10 years, 3,000 cats living far away from villages will be captured. If there is no taker, it will be slaughtered one week after being captured. The current situation is that it is not easy to transfer a captured cat because it does not disclose the captured cat's photos or information and imposes a very complicated procedure on those who wish to transfer it.

From 2018 to 2019, immediately after the start of the feral cat management plan on Amami Oshima, our association visited Amami Oshima many times to take in and protect all the cats that were targeted for culling. For us, conservation activities outside of Okinawa Prefecture were unusual, but we could not turn a blind eye to the fact that cats were being sacrificed for World Heritage registration. .​

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The "Amami cats" that were adopted and protected by Cherubim have been adopted by foster parents and have been adopted by conservation groups in the mainland, but 13 cats are still being protected.

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*The cat in the image is Sata, an Amami cat who was protected by Cherubim in June 2019.