198something. a friend saw a litter of kittens behind an abandoned buisness in Salem. the mom and kittens had been seen eating the crusts of pizzas out of a dumpster there. I contacted the only local no-kill shelter. (all the others had no foster/socialization programs at the time-now they do). I didn't even know what the word feral meant. It was late november. nobody returned my calls. Finally, cape ann rescue did. she (Julia) taught me how to trap. She set the family up in my home and i immediatly bungled it up. I didn't realize how serious it would be for mom to get loose. she had been vaccinated, spayed, tested. I opened her carrier door to change the litter and she charged out and right into the windows, repeatedly banging herself against the glass to get out. I had no idea. Finally re-trapped the poor thing. At one point, one of her kittens got loose. they were in a huge 6 foot long cage that opened at the top. she scrambled out and I scrambled after her for several hours. Once back in, I got it with the feral thing! I read to those kittens every night for 3 weeks; sat right in front of them and yakked and yakked at them. On week 3, they came out and you would never know they were feral. I kept one, my Shy, the other 2 adopted immediatly. (and got photos and cards from the new owners for a bit). It hasn't stopped since then!