Come to Jerusalem if you want to see the effects of that. There are lots of stray cats that leave bigger messes than rats and fight bigger animals (pets) than rats. If you want to think of releasing dogs to to catch the cat, then look at Moscow. If you then want to release a goat, then you should read "The Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly"

> Why not stop using poison and just let some cats lose

Fast forward 5 years, you got yourself a healthy plague of feral cats - plus complaints from regular cat owners that the ferals pick fights with their cats. In addition introducing mass numbers of cats causes a rapid uptick in bird deaths (cats can eat islands virtually birdfree) and they're a considerable risk for accidents with vehicles or small kids.

The cat population can be simply and easily controlled with the introduction of some eagles...

You're right about the toll on the birds and other small animals, but not about the exploding population.

Key West has an informal program of spay/neuter of feral cats. They also inoculate them and notch their ears. It stabilizes the population.

This is a disastrous idea, historically proven time and time again to be a disastrous idea.