A sad story but hope for the cats left behind...
I want to share a huge success story in the mission of our 50 Feral Fix voucher program. Our main mission is to empower those who feed cats to become caretakers. It is a struggle as many people do not understand that feeding alone actually makes the cat overpopulation problem worse.
This is a "tail" of 2 neighbors. One was a feeder and one is now a caretaker.
We had a call come in from an amazing woman not long ago. Her neighbor was a "feeder". He supplied the feral cats around his home with food but never really cared enough to TNR nor even to provide any medical care. The end result was the same as it always is .... a HUGE cat population in a neighborhood. But the story gets worse!
He passed away and left this group of cats with no food, no shelter and rapidly breeding into an even larger colony. This often makes the cats more of a nuisance to neighbors as the now starving cats get into trouble desperately trying not to starve to death. Years of this man providing only food led to numbers that natural food sources alone could not sustain. These cats are very lucky as in many cases neighbors not only do not want to take over feeding, but they certainly don't want to put in the effort to be caretakers. Situations like this often lead to the many tragic cases we see of cats being poisoned or trapped and dumped in the woods by neighbors who find them unpleasant. Both acts are illegal, cruel and end with cats suffering and dying in horrible ways.
Thankfully this man had a neighbor who cared about the cats. Not only did she take over feeding, but she is willing to do all she can to make sure the numbers do not keep increasing. The one big issue is that after years of breeding the numbers are now beyond what she can afford to pay for even with low cost options. She did not create this problem but is still willing to work. She wants to be a caretaker. We are so happy that she found our 50 Feral Fix program! We have already sent 2 sets of vouchers and trapping has begun.
Her goal is to make sure all of the cats get TNR'd and any other medical care they need. We are here to help!
If you truly love cats and really want to end the cycle of suffering, your immediate goal should be to become a caretaker. This is the perfect example of how feeding alone will end with nothing but suffering for cats. Feeders move, pass away, or are forced to stop feeding which leaves the cats to struggle to survive on our hard, cold streets. Caretakers like our friend change the lives of these cats forever. She is providing shelter, food, medical care and in the end will decrease the number of cats on our streets. Remember that the ultimate goal of TNR is NO MORE CATS BORN ON OUR STREETS. By completing the task of caring for these cats, there will be no more babies born in the cold, less fighting over mating rights, no mothers dying in birth, no more moms watching their sick babies die on the street.
Another important benefit of this type of immediate good colony management - not just feeding - is the decrease in numbers and nuisance behaviors related to breeding. With no more spraying, yowling, and litters born, it is more likely that the neighborhood will accept the cat population, knowing that it will decrease over time under our friend's watch.
We are so happy to be a part of empowering another cat lover to become a caretaker and of course, an angel to these cats.