Allow this Alaskan to help you with your confusion: Anchorage Municipal Ordinance Title 17 prohibits release of domesticated animals into the wild, and under certain circumstances allows those found harassing or harming wildlife to be shot.  A free-roaming invasive feline, be it "barn cat", at-liberty "pet" cat, "community" cat, feral cat or simply one belonging to someone too pathetic and incompetent to make a 12 lb. domesticated animal stay put is by DEFINITION harassing and harming wildlife.  The mere presence of an invasive feline is sufficient to drive birds off their nests and abandon them.  This means, at least in my state and according to the dictates of my conscience and the principles of good environmental stewardship, a "free-roaming" cat = DEAD cat if I'm within reach of a firearm.