Comment

Comment by Chris Baker on December 28, 2011 at 7:49pm

Very nice!

Comment by Alice Carli on December 8, 2011 at 9:01am

Hooray!

Comment by Chris Baker on November 6, 2011 at 11:52am

Kudos to you all! Every time I drive by Judy's on GPB I look for kitties, with fond memories of our evening there. And I love the "education" ideas!

 

 

Comment by Jes Karakashian on November 5, 2011 at 3:05pm

Oh thank goodness!  My husband will especially be relieved...he's been sick with worry since we moved.  I told him I was sure she'd find a food source...there were times she'd disappear for weeks on end, and come back fat and happy, so obviously someone was feeding her!  We trapped her twice...once with her four kittens, but she plowed right through a screen in my screened in back porch to escape, and the second time we had her spayed and tested and everything, but she was obviously far too feral to attempt to rehab, so we reluctantly released her back out into the world.  Pretty cat...I wish she had been less fearful.  She has been the only one we've caught aside from one male we TNRed that we could not turn into a house cat.  :-( Thank you for letting me know, and if you guys need me to bring some food down, please don't hesitate to let me know!

Comment by Jes Karakashian on November 5, 2011 at 11:41am

Congrats on all the wonderful work you guys have been doing over on GPB!!  Just wondering, has anyone seen a tortie female with a tipped ear wandering around over that way?  We used to feed a girl we called Mama Cat (we TNRed her and caught all her babies years ago) when we lived on Westfield.  Since we moved we've been worried about the pretty girl.  My tenants don't want the responsibility of leaving food out for her (which, to be honest, kind of pisses me off since I told them I'd even buy the food), so I thought maybe she would find her way to the colonies for food.  She's pretty self sufficient...I've seen her grab rabbits and take off.  Wild girl!

Comment by Margy Meath on November 4, 2011 at 3:10pm

Way to go Sheri, Robin and Kristi!!

For those who don't know how time consuming this can be..... the Marlborough 3 have given up at least 10 (probably MUCH more) full evenings and several weekend afternoons since starting just this one project on GPB. They have not only spent time trapping but have helped with education, transportation, building of traps, etc. They have done this to assist their neighbors (and the cats). There are some in our neighborhood who are critical of these efforts - probably because they either don't understand the importance of this issue and/or think doing for 'animals' is somehow less important than doing for people. The nice thing about the 'cat group' is that it is helpful to both animals AND people and it helps connect people (through their common interests) to others that they might not otherwise know.

 

Comment by Alice Carli on November 4, 2011 at 8:16am

Hooray! Go you guys!

Comment by Bill Nichthauser on October 19, 2011 at 9:11pm

Thanks Alice and Sheri and everybody!  Sorry that the Citizens' Police Academy is on Tuesdays, and that I had to miss the meeting.

 

 

Comment by Alice Carli on October 19, 2011 at 12:59pm

Hi all!

 

We had a good meeting last night, with three people from the Marlborough Group able to offer good advice on cat-catching!

 

We decided to purchase three new traps with part of the funds we have collected for TNR. Two of these will be have-a-heart type traps with one end that can be set to fall in place when it is triggered while the other end can be manually raised and lowered “guillotine” style to make it easier to get cats safely in and out of the trap. The third trap will  be a special “drop trap,” which is much larger and is triggered manually (a watcher pulls a rope when the right cats are inside) and can trap multiple cats all at once. It also has an opening that can be used with the guillotine end of a regular trap to get cats transferred in and out. This combination will make it much easier to catch those last shy holdouts in a colony! And the fact that they belong to the whole group will simplify the coordination of cat trapping, at least for small numbers, though we will also need to continue our current very helpful communal practice of individuals loaning their personal traps as needed for larger groups. Sheri Tehan will coordinate the trap purchase.

 

Sheri will also be spearheading a neighborhood education campaign which will be three-pronged: seeing about getting billboard space and continuing to put news in 19^th Ward newsletter, Loc19 and our own 19thwardcats.org web site; putting up posters in local business and other gathering places (YMCA, etc.); and going house to house both meeting neighbors and looking for evidence of cat colonies (mostly signalled by feeding dishes on porches…). Sheri will try to find the owners of local billboards like the one on Chili by 490 to see about costs and whether they offer pro bono service to groups like ours. She will also look into organizations, including the NET offices (by any more recent name) and our own 19WCA, that might help with making copies of posters or literature, though there are also some very good pamphlets and door hangers available from Alley Cat Allies and other larger groups.

 

We had a good discussion of some of the challenges facing cat caretakers, including Heidi getting out earlier than usual one morning to discover two young cats she had never seen (since they are early risers) and therefore not yet nabbed for TNR on her block, the fact that the Habitat and Lollypop feral TNR programs are both once again backlogged, and the difficutlies that keeping a cat colony can cause with one’s neighbors.   

 

We do still have funds for TNR (Trap Neuter Return for feral cats) and will continue to work to hook up with people caring for cats in the neighborhood. TNR is of primary importance for keeping colony size under control, so we will need to work as best we can with the current clinic backlog. The coming winter weather will also complicate TNR efforts since cats need at least 24 hours recuperation time in a warm place – but the stress of winter will also put off most new litters until spring. We have decided that part of the education campaign will include using this winter time to identify colonies and get ready for a big TNR effort in early spring.

 

We also discussed the situation of shelters for cats, and came to the conclusion that most of the “nice” (to our eyes) shelters that we have built have gone unused (at lesast by cats), so that for the moment our efforts are better concentrated on getting ourselves organized and colonies identified, and letting the cats take care of finding shelter that is to their taste, since they mostly seem able to do so. If anyone does see cats who do not seem able to find adequate shelter, though, please report this (either on Loc19 or at www.19thwardcats.org).

Comment by Bill Nichthauser on October 11, 2011 at 1:51pm

I, too, have been accepted to the Citizen's Police Academy, so won't be able to make the meeting on Tuesday, the 11th.  Actually,  I can't make anything during the week except for Friday.  Saturday afternoons are open as well as all day Sundays.  At the end of December,  Wednesdays will be open except for PCIC meetings and saturation PAc-Tac.  Sorry!

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