The Ward 1 Alley Cat Coalition

Cat Colony Care | Humane Trapping | Volunteering
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Humane Trapping

In the ideal world, every cat would have a loving home. However, that is far from becoming a reality. We believe the next best thing is caring for those that do not, and will never have, a loving home. Thus, we believe in TNR - Trap, Neuter, Release. The other alternative, used by most Animal Shelters, is death.

Our goal is to get more people involved in TNR in order to decrease the cat overpopulation. We will teach people how to trap as well as lend out traps to people. It would be wonderful if we had the resources to send out trappers when we get calls from concerned residents and do the TNR ourselves, but we simply can't. We need people in the community to help us with this endeavor.

Thoughts Of A Feral
I sit beneath the bushes as she fills my dish each day,
I only venture out to eat when she has gone away.
I know it will upset her when I turn away and hide,
As every day she tries her best to get me by her side.
I wish that I could let her know that I don't want to run,
And hope that she will understand it's nothing that SHE's done.
I'd like to have her stroke me and pat my weary head,
But fear will overcome and I'll run and hide instead.
For all the kindly people who feed the strays each day,
I pray the Lord will care for them as they have cared for me.

-- Annette Easdon

TNR involves trapping cats in a humane way. The cats are enticed into harmless traps. This will take a bit of time in some cases (cats are smart). Once the cat(s) are trapped, he/she needs to be spay/neutered and medicated. There are several low cost spay/neuter clinics and options available (we may be able to assist with the spay/neuter costs if you are financially unable to).

You then need to pick the cat up (same day for males or overnight for females) and keep him/her one night in a safe place until he/she is ready for release. Please note that the clinic cuts the tip of the cat's left ear so one knows that the cat has been spayed/neutered. Some shelters will not trap and kill these cats if they see a tipped ear.

At this point, it would be wonderful if all these cats could be adopted. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The next best option is to release them back in the alleys where they were found and caring for them - unless the alley has proved unsafe and hostile. We may be able to re-locate them.

After spay/neutering, most cats become friendlier and less hostile to other cats, which means less fighting. You can then begin to maintain your cat colony and provide them with the care and protection that they deserve.

Alley Cat Allies and the Feral Cat Coalition have proved that it is more cost effective to TNR than to perform massive killings in city pounds. Review the research or get more information from these organizations' web sites.

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