Wow! 9 years! I'll bet you could write a book about your experiences with the feral cats during that time...Originally Posted by K & L
It will be three years in April since we became involved and we've sure experienced our share of tragedies and triumphs.
In that nine years, how many trappings have you had to do, and has the size of the colony remained fairly stable?
Our first trapping caught 23 cats for TNR plus a large number of kittens that were able to be adopted out. While we were waiting for the ferals to take the bait and enter the traps, the ladies from AzCats took that opportunity to educate the neighbors at every household where they saw outside cats. As a result of their efforts, many kittens were saved and other pet cats in the neighborhood were taken in to be speutered in the following days.
Our colony is now down to about 12 cats--no new kittens since the TNR.
Littles, (pictured below, and the great grandma of the bunch) is the one that started it all. She had her kittens in an aquarium my neighbor had set outside. We didn't know they were there until she heard Littles crying during a storm. The aquarium had begun to fill with water and 3 of the 5 one week old kittens had already drowned before my neighbor could save them. She raised the other two by hand and still has the scars from the wounds Littles inflicted while trying to protect those kittens. As a result of the trauma of having her kittens taken away, Littles is much more wary of her caregivers. Even at feeding time she maintains a safe distance until there are no humans close by.
To read this you'd never believe that I'm not a cat person would you?
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