Feral Cats
- 1. Feral Cat Care and TNR: A Beginner's Guide
- 2. TNR - The Humane Alternative
- 3. How to Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) Feral Cats
- 4. How to Build Feral-Cat Shelters
- 5. Winter Care and Safety for Feral Cats
- 6. How to Prevent Freezing Water
- 7. Helping Abandoned, Stray Cats and Kittens
- 8. Caring for Litters of Stray Kittens
- 9. Junkyard Cats
Junkyard Cats
Susan M. Taylor, J.D.
Junkyard Cats
Life in an Indiana junkyard was harsh enough for the 200 cats and kittens who lived there. Then the property was sold to a man whose top priority was to get rid of all the junk.
For 20 years, the run-down junkyard in Hammond, Indiana, might easily have been mistaken for the set of Cats, the Broadway musical. But for the stray cats and kittens who made their homes in the back seats of abandoned cars or under the dashboards of rusted-out trucks, the drama was all too real.
The junkyards owner, Ted North, had never tried to find homes for the cats, nor had he bothered to call animal control to have them removed. So they multiplied, and eventually numbered more than 200.
On May 31, 2000, North died. His former wife, Caroline Smith, put the junkyard up for sale. Almost immediately, a buyer came forward. Ed Bridegroom owned Calumet Palette Factory, right across the street from the junkyard, and he needed a place to store his palettes. Before Bridegroom could use his new property, however, he needed to get rid of all the cars and trucks. He hired a man with a bulldozer.
The Cat Colony
One cold day some 18 years ago,
Yvette Jacobs was driving by a junkyard on Sheffield Avenue in
Hammond, Indiana. She was on her way to a new job when she
noticed a couple of scroungy dogs in the junkyard.
I felt sorry for them, Jacobs recalls. They looked so skinny. I didnt see any bowls or food around, so I just started feeding them. I thought they probably belonged to the junkyard, so I didnt call the authorities.
At first, Jacobs visited the junkyard with food every few days. Before long, she was there every day. Weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. Over time, Jacobs noticed fewer dogs, but more and more cats.
I started feeding the cats, too, says Jacobs. I dont remember how long it took, but I began to realize that there were a lot of cats. Eventually I was buying five 20-pound bags of cat food every day, at a cost of more than $10 a bag.
At this point, Jacobs called several veterinarians for advice. The veterinarians all told her that the best way to handle feral cats is to trap them, neuter them and then release them. Unfortunately, the cost of neutering so many cats was out of the question for Jacobs.
I did what I thought was the next best thing, says Jacobs. I called the humane society and animal control for help. They agreed to come out to trap the cats, but they wouldnt neuter them. I knew that the prospects of adopting out the feral cats were slim, but I didnt want to see them put to sleep, either.
Jacobs also spoke with the then-owner of the junkyard, Ted North. He was no help. So Jacobs continued to feed the cats. In the back of her mind, she knew that she was adding to the problem, but she just didnt know what else to do.
Strays in the Garden
When the junkyard changed
hands, Jacobs knew she had to do something fast. She couldnt
stand by and allow the cats to be bulldozed to death. Again, she
made several calls for help. This time Hammond Animal Control
gave her the number of Betty Jarvis, the director of Strays in
the Garden in Hammond. I wish Id known about this animal foster
care organizaiton 18 years ago, Jacobs says.
Jarvis called Ed Bridegroom immediately. He likes animals, she says, so he agreed to delay bulldozing for a couple of weeks.
In a race against time, the volunteers of Strays in the Garden, along with Yvette Jacobs, tried desperately to find homes for the cats and kittens.
Jarvis realized that removing the cats wouldnt take more than a couple of days. The problem was finding homes for them, she says. The cats were feral, or semi-wild, which meant they would not make good pets. Another Strays in the Garden volunteer, Ed McLarin, had the idea that the cats might be happy living on farms. Many farmers are eager to have cats in their barns, he says. Every barn has mice.
I lucked out when I found a directory on the Internet that listed all the farmers in Indiana and Illinois, McLarin recalls. So I got to work right away. On July 12, 2000, Jacobs, Jarvis and McLarin made their first trip to the junkyard. McLarin had found homes for five of the cats, and the group was there to collect them. They set out five traps with spring-loaded doors to painlessly catch and confine the cats.
After about an hour, a few near-misses and five soft, metallic snaps, we had our first five cats, says McLarin.
The cats were taken to a veterinarian in Chicago who had agreed to give them a thorough physical examination, spay or neuter them, and vaccinate them against rabies and distemperall without charge. After receiving a clean bill of health, the cats were taken to their new homes.
But McLarin realized that finding homes for 200 cats and kittens in just two weeks would be a daunting task, especially when some were quite sick. So he called on friends in other animal agencies, and turned to the world of technology.
Wonders of the Web
Have cats, will travel. If Gail Grenert had business cards, this
is what they would probably say. A volunteer with South Bend
(Indiana) Animal Care and Control, Grenert has tapped the power
of the Internet to expand the chances that cats and kittens,
whether housed at the shelter, in local foster homes or in a
junkyard, will find good homes.
Since she began volunteering at the shelter a little over a year ago, Grenert has created web pages to publicize the plight of homeless animals. Separate pages are filled with digital pictures of cats, kittens, dogs and puppies ready for adoption.
Grenert has also tapped into various mailing lists and news groups on the Internet, to let people around the United States know that there are a lot of animals that need good homes (see Resources, below). Several of the junkyard kittens found out-of-state homes through her efforts. She packed them into her car and drove to Illinois, Ohio and Michigan to personally deliver them to their new families.
I try to stay within a reasonable driving distance, but I also try to meet people halfway. That helps both of us, she says of her delivery service.
Grenerts delivery of a small gray kitten to an Ohio family was a special event for her. The family had three young girls, one of whom is in a wheelchair. When the kitten jumped into her lap, this little girls eyes lit up, and a big smile crossed her face. That made it all worthwhile, says Grenert.
However, Grenert knows that not everyone makes a good pet parent. You have to be careful. Someone cant just say they want an animal and automatically get one, she says. People must complete an application form. We check their criminal history for any charges of animal cruelty. We also try to check with their vets to see if there were any problems in the past with their animals, says Grenert.
Fortunately, theres an active network of people involved in animal adoptions in the area. Like Strays in the Garden, a group called Pet Refuge, based in Mishawaka, Indiana, is another nonprofit foster care organization for dogs and cats that operates completely on volunteer time, labor and love.
Pet Refuge tries to place its cats and kittens in foster homes for a period of time to ensure that they work out well in a family setting. This isnt always possible, however, because there are just too many unwanted animals and too few foster homes. So many of the cats and kittens remain at the Pet Refuge shelter, or at other local shelters, where they wait to be adopted. Sadly, some spend their entire lives waiting.
Clarices Case
One of the kittens rescued from the junkyard was a small, frail
calico. The little kitten looked to be about four or five weeks
old. She had an injured leg and encrusted eyes, and was sneezing
uncontrollably. The veterinarian who examined her found that the
kitten had a broken leg, a broken jaw, missing teeth, and was
blind in one eye. Her respiratory disease could prove fatal. The
cost for her treatment would be very high. Fortunately, a
volunteer groomer at Pet Refuge took an interest in the
kitten.
That junkyard has been a popular place for people to dump their unwanted cats and kittens for years, said Dr. George Davis of the Ireland Animal Clinic of South Bend, where the groomer took the kitten for treatment. Theres a fine for anyone caught dumping an animal, but people are rarely caught. This kitten was probably thrown into the junkyard from a speeding car, Davis continued as he noted the extent of the kittens injuries. These people didnt even have the kindness to stop the car first.
Fortunately, the groomer took on the challenge of the sickly kittens rehabilitation. The moment I saw the poor little thing, I fell in love, she says. She needed someone to take care of her.
Several months (and many vet bills) later, the kitten, now called Clarice, is on the road to recovery. She eats solid food, even with missing teeth. She has also learned how to play, and is making up for lost time with a catnip mouse and her new friend, an old dachshund named Watson, who is not at all sure that he wants anything to do with this wild little creature.
Clarices story is not the only happy ending in the Sheffield Avenue production of Cats. Within just a few months, all the cats and surviving kittens found homes (sadly, a few kittens died of their illnesses, and some had to be euthanized). Ironically, the feral adults were the easiest to place, and all went to farms quickly. The kittens took longer, both because they needed more veterinary care to restore their health and because they needed socialization to prepare them for life indoors with families.
People called in, e-mailed and sent letters wanting to adopt one of the kittens, Grenert remembers. There werent even enough kittens to go around. It was a dream come true for anyone working with stray animals.
No one was more gratified with the outcome than Yvette Jacobs. There is so much cruelty toward animals in our society, she says. To see good people doing good work for these cats and kittens was so refreshing.
Susan M. Taylor, J.D., is an attorney, artist and writer in South Bend, Indiana.
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Resources On caring for feral cat colonies: Alley
Cat Allies Operation Catnip To adopt or rehome an animal online: Log onto www.petfinder.org (the ASPCA's online adoption partner). More than 3,000 shelters in North America are registered with Petfinder, representing some 50,000 animals in need of homes. |
© 2002 ASPCA
ASPCA Animal Watch - Spring 2002
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