But I Don’t Want Them Back
Wow, things are bad these days. There are not enough spay/neuter appointments available. All TNR groups and rescues are doing their very best but are overwhelmed – there really needs to be another word that describes this situation! A new startup rescue recently posted that 153 kittens on hand has put a full stop to their intake. We are at over 150 adoptable cats/kittens. DCAS has over 130 in their system as of today. This is repeated everywhere, in all rescues. This is unsustainable. We need more veterinarians, sure. We need pet owners to neuter before behaviors prompt them to allow the cat outside. We need laws that require neutering of pets. We need municipalities to embrace TNR wholeheartedly and stop punishing feral cat caretakers and instead facilitate a permanent solution.
Feral Fixers has saved municipalities and counties so much in resources – 15,420 cats neutered in the last 16 years! The volume of euthanasias due to current laws on the books could be about to skyrocket as there are not enough spay/neuter appointments or relocation sites to accommodate the volume of cats being produced under current conditions. Instead of fines for feeding, fines for unneutered cats would be much more helpful. Diverting funds from the effort to fine, to using those funds to support spay/neuter would make a huge difference. How do you want your tax dollars spent? Punishment or correcting the problem?
You might not be able to trap, foster or adopt but could you attend your Village Board meetings? For instance, Streamwood’s Village Board meeting is Thursday, 9/5/2024 7pm at the Village Hall Chambers, 301 E Irving Park Road, Streamwood. Thursdays are one of our busiest days, spay/neuter day, the culmination of the week’s effort to trap and assemble the cats for spay/neuter, just cannot fit another thing in and I don’t live in Streamwood – but if you live in Streamwood and feed ferals and care about cats – can you attend this meeting? Figure out who your Village Trustee is, attempt to talk to them. There is usually an opportunity for comments from the attendees – find the animal ordinance, bring with and ask them to explain the village code. All I could find restricted the number of pets allowed, did not say anything about feral cats or not feeding them. Feral cats are NOT considered wild animals, state-wide. It worries politicians when people show up and have a voice. The reason I bring this up is the Community Service Officers are once again writing citations for feeding ferals. Hence, caretakers saying “I don’t want them back!”
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| Delancie and Porthos at their new location. Delancie is tuckered out from the travel! | ||
Working Cats Study
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| Conducted in Florida from 1/1/19 to 12/1/23 this study evaluated Operation Catnip of Gainesville, Inc's (OC) Working Cat Program (WCP), a cat management program. |
Watch Out!
Gray squirrels have a bite force of around 7,000 pounds per square inch (psi). For comparison, most humans have a bite force around 500 psi. Like other rodents, squirrels' incisors grow constantly throughout their lives. Wonder why I’m mentioning? An experienced TNR trapper encountered a “friendly” squirrel that hopped on her arm. Without warning she received not one but three chomps. She is fine but it could have been much worse. Do NOT trust wildlife, they can be completely unpredictable.
That’s All for August!
08/29/24 – DCAS – 8 friendlies, 17 ferals, 12 females, 13 males – one was already TNR’d in 2021 – he was supposed to come inside according to the caretaker and received a small eartip – clearly that did not work out as he is outside in a colony again. There were no unusual medical issues in this batch!
Total: 139 for August, 540 to date in 2024, 15,420 since our beginning.
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| Cats from the 8/29 trip... | ||
As Many as Possible As Soon As Possible
Ice Cream Social for Feral Fixers – Thank You!
Jeni’s had sales of over $1200, resulting in a donation of almost $306! It was so terribly hot; we appreciate everyone who came out to support Feral Fixers!
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| Happy volunteers at Ice Cream Social! |
Upcoming Adoption Event
Saturday, 8/31, 11am – 3pm – PetSmart, Finley Square Shopping Center at 1550 Butterfield Rd in Downers Grove, IL
We have just 50 cats posted on Petfinder with so many wonderful cats/kittens shown, but many more on hand. Fill out an adoption application and make a huge difference in the life of the right cat for you! You do not have to adopt at an adoption event, but it is a great opportunity to see our cats/kittens in person! We have dozens more kittens who are or will soon be of age for spay/neuter and then be adoptable, but we are still experiencing a shortage of surgery slot availability. There seem to be more kittens and friendly adults coming our way than we can possibly care for – please share our wonderful felines with everyone you know so that we can continue to make a difference in their lives!
