I get it. Its so hard out there right now. We just did a massive outreach effort in a sprawling homeless encampment along the river in the woods where there are 70+ cats. We couldn't get the county animal services to help in any way, even by providing an ACO for security. Our local humane society couldn't decide if they could help and then were told we wanted them to do all the trapping and socialize all these feral cats for adoption, which was of course the opposite of what we were looking for. We ended up doing Phase 1 by ourselves, and then the day of, we had multiple rescues back out of taking the pairs of cats they had committed to. We ended up holding 36 cats. 32 of them are friendly and adoptable. Only 3 are presenting as feral/semiferal. A clinic an hour away stepped up to be a part of this and fixed 26 of these cats for free on a Saturday so they could be transferred to adoption venues quicker. Just unreal. We are a TNR group first, then foster kittens and friendlies from TNR locations and transfer them out for adoption, doing no adoptions ourselves. Nobody stepped up to help regarding holding or fostering all these cats. We are fully run by volunteers and all of us work full time.
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Karen Jealous
PDX Cat Trapper
Portland OR
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-05-2023 08:32 PM
From: Gail Panciera
Subject: Feline population out of control
Hi Karen,
Thank you so much for replying! We do pretty much everything you suggested. It's just that we are a small organization and simply cannot handle the number of cats and kittens that need help. Other organizations in our area are facing the same problem.
Gail
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Gail Panciera
Volunteer
Enfield Community Cat Project
CT
Original Message:
Sent: 11-05-2023 07:58 PM
From: Karen Jealous
Subject: Feline population out of control
HI Gail -
I'm not sure what TNR services you have out there but you may just have to start TNRing where there are colonies and supporting them with food and shelter, is that an option? Can you potentially get trappers involved to help with this effort? That will at least start to lessen the population growth. Can you partner with some trapping organizations and see if they can temporarily foster the kittens from these locations? Maybe start transferring your kittens in your care to these larger shelters? I know you are out the costs for vaccines, etc but you could fundraise for this and potentially get more cats and kittens to safety. Our county just tells people to put them back outside and they will find their way home, even if the owner has moved away, which is not helpful. Our humane society won't take strays so the people have to care for it for 60+ days and say it is theirs in order for the HS to take it later on. Our local rescues are overwhelmed with these cats as well, and by the time some get help they are incredibly ill or injured, not doing well outside. We are incredibly lucky to have a HQHVSN Clinic locally that is donation based - I have no idea how horrible it would be here without that.
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Karen Jealous
PDX Cat Trapper
Portland OR
Original Message:
Sent: 10-29-2023 03:06 PM
From: Gail Panciera
Subject: Feline population out of control
I am a volunteer for a small all-volunteer foster-based cat rescue in Enfield, CT. We have seen an explosion of homeless cats and kittens. Communities lack the funding and care to remedy the situation. We are overwhelmed with requests for help but, unfortunately, limited on the help we can offer. What have other communities done?
#CommunityCatManagement
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Gail Panciera
Volunteer
Enfield Community Cat Project
CT
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