Especially when the request comes from the police department. Call earlier from an officer who told me he was at Bi-Mart and there were nine cats inside of a car in pretty bad shape and could we take them?
I told him I was incredibly sorry but there wasn’t enough room here for one cat, let alone nine! I just wonder when they are going to realize that we have a bad stray cat problem in this town and there are little to no resources available to help out. Something needs to be done, with us out of the picture now the future looks pretty bleak for the strays. Only two rescues left in the area that might be able to help out.
It is a bleak picture for the strays, but perhaps something good will come of it when the authorities realise that they don’t have you to dump their unwanted cats on. But it must be very hard indeed for you to turn them down.
I agree with John . It is far past the time that the city, or, better yet, the whole county, started giving you a real hand, both financially and in terms of resources. It is hard, but sometimes, a strike is the only way to get management’s attention. I have felt this way about your situation for a long time. Strikes are hardest on the strikers, and you do not always win. But if you do, the extra food on the children’s table is more than worth it (In this case–the cats and kittens). Gather some good allies and tell city hall or the county what the problem is and what you need to fix it. You have been around there long enough, and up-front enough that you are not unknown. It may be hard, but surely no harder than continuing to fight an uphill battle alone with no assistance,. Please don’t think I am lecturing. I am not. I have carefully read every single post, and every single reply recorded on this blog since its beginning. The work you do is simply amazing. The miracles you accomplish with almost nothing but sheer willpower are great. But, there is an old Irish saying, “Too long of a sacrifice, can make a stone of the heart.”
Rocky,
I don’t consider it a lecture at all. It is time for me to step down instead of being one of the “go to” calls to make when something does come up. We keep telling people who ask, we are not a brick and mortar.we are not a shelter, which knocks us out of the running for many grants available through other outlets. We are a sanctuary. A place of refuge for those who were once traumatized or lost or worse. Asking us to up and take nine cats is a bit unrealistic. Nine cats would fill one of our sanctuaries, but these cats have to be in rough shape- so that is also a concern. We were able to knock down our vet bill by a few hundred dollars recently- thanks to donors who read my blog and open their hearts and wallets. But it is still high and we don’t have the resources (like others) to hire a PR person, a Social Media person and to cover what these cats might need.
The sad part about it is, if the cats aren’t “huggable” the local shelter won’t step in- they send the unhuggable cats to people like me to deal with. I’m always amazed when I watch Animal Cops on Animal Planet and see the level of commitment some of the states carry when it comes to dealing with stray and feral cats. Of course the down side of that is if the cats are so unsocialized that catching them is an issue, several of the shelters will just put them down. But they at least save them from enduring a life they shouldn’t have even been brought into.
You call animal control here and ask what they do to cats? They euthanize them- they only deal with dogs. You have to pay to turn them into a shelter (again only if they are huggable and get along with other cats) The others are left in the wind with two rescues (already overloaded) left to deal with them. It’s sad, but around here, that’s the reality.
This is why I’ve joined the petition to get my local government to change the ordinance to make TNR legal, without having to get every animal licensed, and to feed outside is not feeding ‘wildlife’. Am thinking of contacting Alley Cat Allies for more information to put in front of the city council. If declawing can come to an end, then TNR can be made legal, and mandatory!