posted June 02, 2008 07:27 PM         

A volunteer effort to keep cats in check
By Cathy Zollo
Published on Monday, June 2, 2008
in The Herald Tribune

SARASOTA COUNTY — Sometime around 5 a.m. on the third Sunday of every month, volunteers for Buddy's Feral Cat Program start arriving to unpack the shed behind Ashton Animal Clinic in Sarasota.

They set up tarps, tables and fans, stack trays and begin sterilizing and wrapping surgical packs. They put out doughnuts and coffee and have a pep talk just before 8 a.m., when six veterinarians and 30 volunteers will begin to spay or neuter up to 100 of Sarasota County's estimated 60,000 feral cats.

The volunteers, some of whom risk being fined by the county for feeding colonies of cats, donate time and money because they say Sarasota County is not addressing its problem with feral and free-roaming cats.

Under county policy, captured feral cats too wild to be adopted are euthanized. Each one costs the county between $125 and $150. Animal advocates say keeping the cats in managed colonies -- where they are fed and eventually trapped and neutered, then returned -- is a cheaper and more effective approach.

Exploding populations of these abandoned and semi-wild animals are a nationwide problem. Wildlife groups say the cats decimate songbird populations. But animal welfare groups contend the cats have little impact on wildlife and deserve humane treatment.

Efforts are under way by such groups to change the policy in Manatee County to a trap, neuter and release program, or TNR. Charlotte County offers a $35 discount for neutering adoptable cats and euthanizes the rest.

Sarasota County's approach is in the middle, thanks to Buddy's Feral Cat Program, a volunteer TNR effort of the Animal Rescue Coalition, a group of nine animal welfare groups whose mission is to end the killing of adoptable animals. It takes a small army of volunteers to deal with the problem because feral cats are not even mentioned in county law.

Local animal welfare groups like ARC and Sarasota in Defense of Animals hope to change that in the near future. Earlier attempts to change the law failed because of public outcry, said Tami Treadway, animal care supervisor for the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. She said a common misconception was that animal services would be introducing cat colonies into neighborhoods, "but they're already there," she said.

One such colony lives near Martha Miller -- not her real name -- in a quiet neighborhood in South Sarasota. Every morning and evening, Miller fills two dozen bowls with cat food for the 30 or so strays that live in the stand of trees behind her house.

She monitors their health and numbers, and spends about $1,200 from her fixed yearly income to feed them. But for each free-roaming cat she feeds for more than five days, Miller is breaking a county law, with fines as high as $208 per violation.

Once a month, she helps volunteers trap some to be neutered and vaccinated. By sunup, the trappers are at Ashton Animal Clinic with wire cages holding angry cats.

Buddy's Feral Cat program is named for a rescued cat whose owner buys supplies. Since 2002, it has eliminated the reproductive capacity of more than 2,000 cats.

Even considering the high death rate of feral kittens, conservative estimates say one cat can become 60,000 by the end of five years.

Feral or free-roaming cats live an average of two to three years. But females can produce up to four litters a year of up to five kittens apiece. Their female offspring can begin having their own litters by six months of age.

"Do the math," said Dr. Laurie Walmsley, who is medical director for ARC and hosts the feral cat Sundays at her clinic.

The monthly events are quiet, intense affairs where an assembly line of volunteers and veterinarians performs tasks on a steady stream of sleeping cats. In three surgery rooms, six veterinarians neuter male cats in as little as 30 seconds. Females take a few minutes.

Over the course of a few hours, between 75 and 100 animals are anesthetized, neutered, treated for fleas, and vaccinated against rabies and feline disease, and have their ears cleaned. Some get medical care for the illnesses and injuries that come from living wild. All have the top third of their left ears clipped to mark them as neutered.

Walmsley said the coalition's TNR operation costs about $50 a cat and gives the animals a better quality of life. The males do not fight or roam as much and the females are not continuously pregnant or nursing. Aside from saving county dollars, studies show that in areas where aggressive TNR programs are in place, cat populations have dropped significantly.

"This is the humane way to do it and it solves the problem," said Maryanne Conlan, one of the volunteer trappers.

She started working with the animals at adoption events in 1994, then fostered cats to socialize them for adoption. Now she monitors 16 cat colonies that range in size from a few cats to dozens.

Conlan said even cat haters should see the benefits of TNR programs.

"If you can't stand them and you ignore it, you'll never make a dent in the population with people trapping one or two at a time and bringing them to the shelter to be euthanized," she said.

HOW TO HELP

Check out these Web sites:
http://www.animalrescuecoalition.org
http://www.sdasarasota.com
http://www.alleycat.org