Thursday, May 19, 2022

Of Cats and Traps — Part 3

For the Cats’ Sake showed up one morning in two cars with plenty of traps. The tall, slim woman explained to me that they used smelly fish as bait while her partner, a woman who smoked a curious pipe, unloaded the traps. She explained their organization was dedicated to Trap-Neuter-Return, all of which sounded just right to me. I wanted my cats neutered, and I wanted them back. They waded into the debris that littered the barn, placing the rickety traps here and there. “Great,” I thought, “by the time they get through clomping around in there, every cat will have scattered for the day.” I stayed back by my car to keep out of their way. Within a half hour they were going back in, and coming out with traps full of cats. These ladies knew what they were doing.

About ninety minutes, one lady walked up to me. I need you to go to this address and ask the lady for three more traps. I brought those traps back, and they filled them up too.

This was my introduction to trap-neuter-return, or TNR. They took at least half the colony away that day, kept at it, and within a few weeks there would be no more cat reproduction at my colony. I had never seen anything like it. At one point I’d been frantic — there’d be no more kittens. I loved kittens; what a nightmare. Then relief set in. The colony wouldn’t get any bigger — hopefully.

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