Are you up for a challenge to put together a simple kitten care program, from foster recruitment and training to supplies and release plans? We need help! We work cross-culturally, in a different language, a different time zone, and with limited resources! (i.e. the entire country usually runs out of kitten formula by mid-July, even though most people only use cow, goat, or rice milk to feed kittens!) Orphan kitten program experience is a plus, as long as you can be realistic about.... a very different reality in Montenegro
Kotor Kitties is a US based nonprofit, with partner organizations in UK and Montenegro. In 2018 we started the first High Quality, High Volume Spay-Neuter (HQHVSN) and Trap-Neuter-Return(TNR) programs in former Yugoslavia (the Balkans.) It is a tiny country, slightly smaller than Connecticut, with a population of around 620,000. It is also a ver poor and underresourced country, with a high rate of illiteracy and strong ties to the "old ways".
Starting with nothing, Kotor Kitties has built a fairly robust spay-neuter program, sterilizing more than 2,700 cats last year. We anticipate reaching our 10,000th cat by our 5th anniversary, at the end of September 2023. Almost all of our donations go into spay-neuter. If we were to get side-tracked into rescue or sheltering or feeding, as many urge us to, there would be no spay-neuter program in Montenegro.
Kitten season presents a different challenge for us in Montenegro compared to the US or UK, because there are NO shelters, only a handful of private rescuers, always over filled, adopters are almost possible to find, and there are at least 100 beautiful, cuddly kitties for each potential home. The culture is slowly changing on adoption and "community cats", largely due to our spay-neuter program. But it will be decades before the impact is fully felt.
Despite 4.5 years of free spay-neuter surgeries, kitten season erupts each year with hundreds of litters being found tied in plastic bags or boxes in trash bins, parking lots, parks--pretty much everywhere. Because a huge percentage of the population believes it is evil to sterilize an animal, but acceptable to throw their unwanted kittens and puppies in the trash. Almost without exception, it is clear that these come from owned cats, not a lack of TNR.
Every year "kitten season is made worse by tourists who discover these dead, dying, or needy kittens, and expect the same level of care to be available for them as "back home" in the States or UK. As the only "cat charity" in the country, they look to Kotor Kitties for help.
With no practical path except releasing the kittens in a relatively safe neighborhood after sterilization or turning our backs on all the people pleading for someone to help the kittens (not great for p.r. or for a decent night's sleep) Kotor Kitties needs to design a cost-effective and compelling program to help raise and adopt or release all the babies that people find.
And... no offense, but we have more great ideas and resources than our current group of volunteers can cope with. We're really looking for people who will jump in, roll up their sleeves, and help develop this program as part of our all-volunteer team!
Please feel free to share this message with anyone you know who might be interested, and message me privately if YOU are interested!
Ćao!
https://www.tiktok.com/@kotor_kitties/video/7201448361705196805
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| Kotor Kitties helps the homeless cats of Montenegro live healthier lives and reduces the homeless population through spaying and neutering. The natural charm and grace of these animals fascinates people all over the world! But when overpopulation goes beyond what a community can properly care for, the charm is lost in the suffering. |
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#CommunityCatManagement#FosterPrograms------------------------------
April King
Volunteer and Board Member
Kotor Kitties
+1 206 407 5336
http://www.kotorkitties.org------------------------------