Cat wranglin'

Wednesday I helped with the large-scale cat trapping event, and let me tell you - it was a sight to be seen! It was the third night of trapping the cats. They caught around 40 the two previous nights, and even though CSC/SNAP hadn't released those cats back onto the property (so we didn't just keep trapping the same ones), cats were everywhere when we arrived. I'd say at least another twenty. It was unreal.

The resident of the property was interesting, to say the least. He mentioned multiple times that the government was out to get him, and that the government controls the weather. Many of the cats had some visible illnesses (gunky eyes), and he said they were sick because of all the chemicals that "they" were using...except he said this right after he lit a burn pile in his yard and stacked all kinds of plastic bags and jugs on top of it to burn. :/

Anyway, after about two and a half hours of trapping, we only caught four cats - they apparently had caught on after seeing what happened to all of their other friends! One little bugger was so bratty. A little 3-4 month old tortie sat next to a trap the ENTIRE time we were there. Just staring. We'd go up to her, she'd scamper off, then come right back and sit next to the trap. As we were packing up, she had finally wondered into the trap and was eating the food, but wasn't springing the trap. So I had to sneak up very slowly behind her and slam the trap door shut.

Most of the cats have now been altered and released back onto the property. A few of the very, very tame ones will be listed as adoptable through CSC. A couple were so ill that they had to the euthanized. And the rest will live the rest of their life out on the property where they were caught. No it's not ideal, but it's the most humane and realistic way to deal with the feral cat population.