Kitten Paparazzi

Miracle, My Belated Birthday Present!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 07:00:00 +0000

On Feb 20th, I was already resigned to the fact that there would be little celebrating for me. Between trapping the previous night, teaching the TNR class and trapping that night for the monthly feral clinic, I knew I wouldn't have time for a usual birthday celebration. Sleeping late on Sat seemed to be a good compromise to having a full-on party and doing nothing at all. Around 0930 my phone rang and I decided I had better see who was expecting me to be out of bed. It turned out to be Tricia to report and seek advice for how to deal with a sticky situation. At the location where they were trapping, they had discovered three tiny 2-4 day old kittens in a storage closet. The momma cat was around but Tricia wasn't sure of how to proceed. Should she scoop up the kittens? Should she leave them alone? Or attempt to use them as bait to trap momma?

Each decision seemed fraught with possible bad outcomes. If she took the kittens on, someone was going to be stuck nurse maiding them and they would have little hope for survival. If she let them be, there was no guarantee that we could trap momma or that momma would not move them to another location. If we moved them, momma might abandon them! Tricia's initial instinct was to leave everything alone and give the kittens a chance to grow. I called Bobbi K. and she advised using them as bait by placing them into on trap, and butting that trap up against a second trap so that momma would have to walk through the trap to get to them. I explained what to do and Tricia gamely moved the little ones into a small box and placed them into a trap. At the same time, she made a grisly discovery, a mummified kitten carcass!

As soon as I got off of the phone with her, I regretted having her move the kittens. What if we couldn't trap momma? What if she wouldn't nurse the kittens after being trapped? I called Trish back and told her of my plan to go teach the class while she and Trudi finished trapping at the site. She asked me if I would come by to help them out first and I said that I did not have the time. Hearing the disappoint in her voice, and I decided that it was unfair for me to expect them deal with this new and frightening situation without being involved . I started working the phones to see if I could find someone who was willing to foster the kittens. Darci from All Fur Love Society agreed to take on the huge responsibility of caring for momma and kittens. I called Bobbi to see if she could come down later and decided that I would go by the site on my way to the training class and help however I could.

I quickly packed up and headed out. When I arrived, Trudi and Trish we're staking out a number of traps in the front and back yard and anxiously looking for momma to see if she would enter the storage closet through the cat door that the caretaker had installed. They had trapped 6 or 7 cats already. Momma watched us warily and would not go into the closet. I decided to take a peak and make sure that the trap with the kittens was setup correctly. I entered the closet and noticed that two cats were hiding in the corner. I inspected the trap setup and found that it was incorrect. The small box containing the kittens was inside of the trap meant for momma. Had she entered this trap, the tiny kittens would be in danger if a panicked, trapped mother trampled them in an attempt to escape.

Moving as calmly and as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the cats who were hiding out ( I planned to wrangle them with a net or noose pole) I rearranged the trap setup. Trish made a commotion at the door and one of the cats ran out. I indicated for her to be quiet and continued setting up the trap. Once I was satisfied that the new setup would work, I retrieved the noose pole from the truck. Trudi used a trap to block the only escape route, and I used the noose pole to prod the cat into the trap. Once trapped we went back to waiting for momma.

I left to teach the class and later received a call that Bobbie was able to trap the mother by having Trudi block the cat door with a trap while Bobbi shooed her out. Bobbi delivered the kittens and momma to Darci who set them up in a large kennel. Hearing the news, I thought, "What a great present! Saving three kittens, and successfully capturing the mother."

Over the next few days, joy turned to disappointment as two of the three kittens died because momma had stopped caring for them. Darci took the final kitten away from momma and began bottle feeding it herself. Despite the heartache, Darci gamely continued to care for the little one she named "Miracle". Yesterday I got to see him play with him, and I thought, that despite the losses, it still turned out to be a good, if belated birthday present!

Bitten by a dog named Scratch

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 08:42:00 +0000

In Nov 2008, I got bitten by a dog named Scratch. I usually joke that it's ironic, or maybe moronic! Here's the notes from my journal about that day.

Scratch-When I brought Ginny back in I noticed a little blood coming from her nose. Cindy was feeding the dogs on the row with the cart a couple of kennels down from Scratch. I tell her about Ginny ramming her nose into the gate and the blood and ask if she will have Karen look at it. She says OK and I go back to Scratch's kennel. He is very excited. I give him a sit command and hand signal but he ignores it. I wait for a minute to see if he will comply but he does not. I decide to go in and as soon as I open the door he rushes out in an attempt to get around me. Instinctively I reach down to prevent him from escaping. For some reason I do not cuff him as I probably should to maintain control of his head. I don't know if it's because I fear his strength and dominance or if I'm trying not to let this escalate. He has maneuvered now so that his head is facing towards the kennel. I am positioned over him and I use my left arm to cradle his butt to prevent him from moving. Something about being restrained in this position makes him very tense and he lets out a terrible sound like I've just stepped on his tail. I look to ensure that in fact I am not on stepping on him at all. He has now warned me that he is extremely agitated. Focused on the single minded goal of not letting him get out of my control I persist in attempting to restrain him using minimal force and get him back inside of the kennel.

I watch in the sort of detached way that only someone pumped on adrenaline can as he takes my forearm into his mouth and clamps down exactly like you'd imagine a dog that was bred over centuries to bite and hold things. I remember watching him shake his head back and forth while I vainly attempted to retrieve my arm and thinking, “Wow, that's really going to hurt later!” At some point he released the grip on my forearm leaving four major punctures and one minor one in my fore arm. You would think that any person with sense would ensure that they protected their limbs at this point, but the adrenaline and the single minded focus of not letting him escape made me stupid. He got a second bite with his teeth around my thumb causing a major puncture on my hand above my wrist, and a smaller puncture through the web of skin between the thumb and index finger. His finally bite causes three punctures on my hand with two to the base of the index finger and a third between the index and middle finger. As this scenario played out, Cindy observed intently from behind her cart but made no move to intervene. I was not disappointed by this as I saw no reason for someone else to get hurt. Even after watching my forearm and hand being chomped on I remained incredibly calm. When Scratch finally relinquished my hand, I backed into his kennel holding my bleeding arm high in the air. He turned to flee down the row but Cindy was quick with the cart and blocked his path. He looked back at me in confusion. Blood oozing out from several deep wounds I sat down low in the kennel and called Scratch back to me. He walked into the kennel and I stood up, exited and closed the gate behind me. Cindy looked at me and asked how bad it was. I held my arm up and showed her, blood dripping onto the floor. We made our way towards Karin's office and she said, “I'm sorry for not helping out back there, but...” She held up her forearms to show the scars from what looked like a devastating mauling she had received in the past. I replied, “No problem! You did exactly what needed to be done by blocking his escape! You saw how he came back to me, I should have just let him out and then called him back in!”

I look at the blood oozing from my hand and for a brief instance I feel woozy like I'm going to faint. The feeling passed and as we approached Kathy's kennel, she somehow managed to open her door and came barreling down the row. Fortuitously, for some reason, I still had the 6' black nylon lead in left hand. I thrust the lead out in front of me and Kathy, true to form, takes it into her mouth. I use her grip to force her back into her kennel, abandon the lead, and shut the door. Are the prisoners revolting?

In Karin's office I mix up some betadine and water. Cindy gets me some towels and I proceed to clean up. Still in shock and disbelief, I think to myself it's not that bad. Karin comes in and I let her know what happened claiming it to be my fault and not Scratch's. I think maybe I can get by with not going to the ER. Most of the wounds don't look too bad, but the one near my wrist is quite deep. It looks like it should get a closure. I show it to Karin and say I think I am going to the Quickcare. She says that if that is the case, I need to speak with Julie and a report with animal control must be filed and Scratch must go into quarantine. I hate for all of this to happen but I need to get medical attention.

Julie says she must look up what hospital I need to go to be covered by the shelter's insurance. I tell her that I have insurance and I could go to the Quickcare. She agrees that this would be helpful. We fill out an incident report and they take Scratch out of adoptions and put him in quarantine. On my way out I see Adam and Kay and show them my arm and relate the story. I reiterate how I think it is my fault and how it escalated out of control and how I should have backed off sooner. I show them my wound of concern and say I'd rather not go but I think it needs a stitch.

In the car I snap a couple of photos and shoot a short bit of video to commemorate the moment. On the way to the Quickcare, an officer from Animal Control calls and asks where I am going to be treated, and I tell her which UMC office I am going to. She tells me to have them contact Animal Control once I get seen. She asks if I have a pen but I say I have the number on my cell. At the Quickcare office I sign in using my left hand. Not noticing that the first line is for last names, I have scribbled my first. I write my last name on the next line and pass the sign in sheet back to the secretary.

“Sorry,” I quip, “It's kind of illegible. I had to write it with left hand because my right hand is like this!” I thrust my arm out and showed her my hand. Though I had cleaned it at the shelter, fresh blood had oozed from all of the wounds and covered my lower arm and my pants. “Oh God,” she said, “What happened to you.” She processed me pretty quickly but we had to wait a little while for the nurse to come and get me. Vitals were good (BP 119/78). She filled out the report for animal control. I told her about their request that they be contacted. She said she would not call, but would fax the report. A second nurse came who cleaned my wounds with a betadine solution and then had me soak my arm while I waited for the doctor. I voiced my opinion that I would need a stitch. She said dog bites were considered “dirty wounds” so they did not use sutures. She asked me about the level of pain and I said three. I had to wait for quite a while (30 minutes maybe?) but it was good cause I soaked in the betadine for all of this time. The doctor came in, we went over what happened and she explained that they did not cover or dress dog bites at all. I showed her my wrist and she said that they might put a steri-strip on it to close it. She asked me about pain and I again said three. She said I have a high tolerance to pain. She prescribed some pain pills (Lortab?) and Augmentin (amoxicillin antibiotic). I waited a little while and she returned with a male doctor. He looked at my hand and said yes to the steri strip. The nurse returned, closed the wound on my wrist with the strip and discharged me. I explained to her about the Animal Control officer wanting to speak to someone. She offered to if I could get them on the line. I called the number but it started me into voice menu hell. I waited on hold for a moment and then decided that they would get the faxed report.

I made my way to the pharmacy, my uncovered wounds oozing blood. I went home, called the shelter and left a message for Julie at the main number. I called Julie/Connie's number and Karin answered. I updated her about my condition. The next two days my hand was very sore and swollen. While post adrenaline pain scale was three, on the next day it was closer to six or seven! My forearm and hand felt like someone had taken a bat and struck it several times while it rested on a block of concrete. On Wed I mostly rested. Julie called me on Wed but I missed her call. I called Connie and updated her on my condition. She asked whether I would be able to take Bea to her last class. She offered to get someone else to do it, but I told her I would be OK by then. I did not want to miss that day for anything! She tells me Scratch is still in quarantine, but that the visit from AC was perfunctory and that no further action would be taken against Scratch! Good deal!

Typing or walking dogs is out of the question as my hand is swollen and oozing and I can barely use it for anything. Thursday it is a little better, but still too painful to type. Up early I buy into a $24 + 2 Knockout NLH tournament with 542 players at 6:00 AM using my left hand with the mouse. Hopped up on Lortabs, I show the requisite amount of aggressiveness to scoop up blinds when necessary to stay ahead of the curve. Unusually, I never end up having to make decisions that jeopardize my stack. At one point a couple of hours in I make a bad call, but it's not enough to cripple me. I manage to come back and after three hours I am solidly in the money and looking better all of the time. It gets down to the final 9 players and I have a pretty average chip stack. I am writing an email to Jayme to tell her what is going on since she is on the phone when two other players go all-in. I call and knock them both out. It is now 7-handed and I am the chip leader. I use my big stack to bash the other players into submission one by one. Heads up the lead slips away with one bad call, but I manage to come back and win. $2700 for first place plus 12 knockouts at $4 a pop. Yea! My first tournament win over three figures! Thanks Scratch!

Scratch POSTMORTEM – With a couple of weeks of reflection, I think I have now pieced together the many mistakes that have led to minor tragedy. The Saturday before this event occurred, I had been working with Scratch in the courtyard with sit-stays off leash. This was the first time I had ever used treats with Scratch and the transformation was incredible. The strongest and nearly most stubborn dog that I know who won't walk right, sit look when his name is called suddenly becomes the most obedient dog in the world. I would put him into a sit, (oftentimes right in front of the glass doors so he could see people coming and going through the lobby) drop the lead and walk away from him. He would hold his stay even with distraction, and when I released him (usually from a distance) he would bound excitedly towards me receive his tiny bit of chicken. We spent a good amount of time practicing this and he never seemed to tire of performing this act.

Fast forward to Tue. I go to his kennel and try to get him to sit. He ignores me. He's thinking, “Hey, here's the chicken guy! I loved that game we were playing! Run at the chicken guy and get the treat! Yeah! I love the chicken guy! OK, kennel door is open, run at the chicken guy!“ So here he is, running at me expecting to get treated, He was happy and excited ,but now he's being restrained in a way he does not like and the chicken man is showing anxiety and maybe a little fear. He lets out a whelp to show his dismay at being trapped. The chicken man momentarily relents, but then goes back to forcing him back into his kennel. The more the chicken man pushes, the more he resists. Finally, he has had enough. The other dogs are extremely upset and barking. The chicken man is also agitated. The woman with the food cart is also agitated. Cornered and frightened, he decides that if the chicken man will not release him, he will grab the chicken man. Instincts take over he bites down on the chicken man's forearm. The chicken man attempts to free his arm but his pathetic attempts at pulling are little match for the gripping power selected and bred for by generation after generation. He shakes the forearm violently and for a moment, the man is able to free his arm, but a quick bite secures the hand by the thumb. Less secure this grip is momentary but he is able to snap the man yet again on the index finger, before the man retreats back into his kennel holding his bleeding hand above his head. Standing on the row no longer gripping the man's arm, Scratch realizes that he is free. He starts down the row but the food woman shoves her cart rudely in his face. He backs away and hearing his name called he looks back at the kennel and sees the chicken man kneeling holding his left down to the ground invitingly and calling him. He races into the kennel and the man walks out. What the hell was all of that about? All I wanted was chicken treat. A few minutes later the vet tech comes and gets him using one of the nylon leads. He is moved from his kennel to a different one where no prospective adopters can see him. There is tension now whenever any of the staff comes around.

Should have never let him barrel out of kennel. (claiming territory).
Should have scruffed him to control head and body.
Should have backed off when he whelped.
Should have protected extremities to prevent bite.

When Scratch got released from quarantine, I felt terrible. The staff now feared him and his profile was updated to indicate that he had bitten someone. I told the dog manager Dwayne that I understood the mistakes I had made and that I wanted to continue working with Scratch. He told me as long as I wasn't afraid, he had no problem with me walking Scratch. He is still at the NSPCA, and he is still one of my favorite doggies! I would so much like to get him a forever home!

Don't leave traps unattended!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:49:00 +0000

Last Oct. I placed a left a trap in what I considered to be a secure area. Surrounded by a fence and a locked gate, I was sure that any trap I left there would be undisturbed. After about 45 minutes of trapping at other sites nearby, we checked the trap and I discovered a pissed-off soaking wet feral kitten. A nearby sprinkler had drenched him and the trap cover. We transferred him to a dry trap and Joe took him home to warm up. What might his fate have been had I decided to leave the trap out all night? At best he would have been sick, at worst he could have died from hypothermia!

I often use this as a cautionary tale about leaving traps unattended for long periods of time. Unfortunately, now I have an even more convincing story. A few months ago, I warned a trapper about leaving traps even in a "secure" area, as I told her we can never anticipate what might happen while we are away. She assured me that she had done it lots of times and that there was enough physical security to prevent the traps from being disturbed. On sun morning she checked her traps to discover a cat that had been killed by dogs. If you arm a trap and leave it somewhere, what happens to the cat is your responsibility! Helpless inside the trap, I can only imagine the terror the cat went through while being killed. Do yourself and the cats a favor and don't leave traps unattended!

My three minute Animal Advisory Committee Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:52:00 +0000

This is my story and I'm sticking to it!

I started volunteering at the NSPCA in the fall of 2008. There were a large number of feral cats living around the shelter and at several other colonies located between Decatur/Arville and Russell/Hacienda. In the spring of 2009, I saw an ever increasing number of kittens and juveniles roaming around. I quickly made the connection between these feral cats breeding out of control, the overburdened NSPCA shelter, and the high number of cats being surrendered and euthanized in Las Vegas annually. I learned about the county's 10.06 ordinance and another volunteer and I decided to Trap Neuter Return the cats ourselves. We methodically catalogued the cats, where they were being fed and made contacts with the caretakers and property owners. Between 4 different sites, nearly 90 cats roamed and fed from an ample supply of food! Borrowing traps we captured and sterilized 3 cats for the July 2009 HCWS feral clinic.

By Oct of 2009, we had trapped some sixty cats from around the area. A couple had been previously sterilized. Six were fostered, then sterilized and eventually adopted. The other 54 cats who were trapped and released pushed the local sterilization rate to what I estimate to be over 60%. Between Oct. and Feb, we sterilized an additional 20 cats in the area pushing the rate above 80%. I only know of 4 kittens in the areas colonies which survived since Oct. Three were trapped and sterilized and one was rescued by a person who works in the area. I believe this demonstrates why TNR is effective. Yes, there were two mothers left producing kittens, and newcomers move in from other areas, but they and their offspring have to compete with the existing 60 - 70 sterilized cats for food and habitat.

Had we removed more of these cats, but not removed the food sources, the remaining cats would have had less competition and would have breed more prolifically to close the gap. The cat population in the area is noticably less than it was last summer. I hope to see far less if not zero litters of kittens finding their way into the NSPCA or Lied from this area this spring and summer. I also hope that this demonstrates that a small group of people can have a large impact on the number of kittens being born in an area in a relatively short time through targeted Trap Neuter Return.

My goal as President of the newly formed group, Community Cat Coalition of Clark County, or 'C5', is to educate and inform and more people to help themselves with feral cat issues. We hold a biweekly Introduction to TNR class at the HCWS clinic on Sat, from 12-2 PM to inform people, mostly colony caretakers about local cat ordinances and how to humanely and safely, trap, stage and transport cats.

Preventing Trapped Cats from Escaping

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:26:00 +0000

A couple of days ago there was an accident at Keith's house. One of the cats got out of it's trap. It dashed out the door when Debbie opened the garage. I had one escape in my garage a couple of months ago. The poor cat leaped onto anything and everything, including a mounted boar head that belonged to my dad! My wife thought it was a great adventure wielding my net like she was on safari. Heart racing and me shrieking at my wife to watch out, I managed to wrangle her with my noose pole and get her back into the trap. Since that time, my loose policy has been to never open the garage door until I've verified that everyone one is there. Of course, it helps to make sure the traps are really latched shut in the first place :-0

Keith and I were discussing this today and he told me that he had ordered 200 carabiners from Tru Catch to put 2 on each trap. Securing both doors for every trap all of the time seemed excessive to me. That is until I got home from the clinic.I had a row of five traps towards the front and a row of three in the back. While traveling, I usually cover the whole thing with a large moving blanket since my back window doesn't roll up :-0 I opened the tail gate and pulled the moving blanket off. I grabbed the middle trap and it felt too light. I peeked under the trap cover and the trap was empty! I looked up and had to do a double take to actually believe what I was seeing. The big black and white male from one of my sites was sitting directly behind the trap! When he saw me he sprung into the driver cab area.

I figured he would try to hide up there but I worried because he could get out my back window. I draped the moving blanket over the back and ran inside to get my wife. I yelled that I needed her help and dashed back outside. The blanket had fallen down and I replaced it. Realizing she was not coming out, I went back inside and told her what was going on.

We both came out and formulated a plan. I entered the back while she held up the blanket to block the back window. The cat was hiding in front of the driver's seat. I retrieved my noose pole from the front seat and attempted to cover him with a blanket. He went wild and started running across the dash attempting to get out through the closed windows. The interior of the truck was becoming quite warm and he was panting. I managed to get the noose pole on his neck and secure him while Jayme unloaded the other cats. I got him into my net and then scruffed him through it. I managed to get a hold of him and release the net. He was rather limp until right before I attempted to push him into the trap. A sudden and powerful squirm and he almost got our of my control! I got him into the trap and shut the door.

I hate handling feral cats in any other manner than carrying them in a trap! The only time I want to touch a feral is when they are either unconscious from being sedated, or when they are waking up and still loopy. I'm told my friend the other day that I'm more comfortable handling a mastiff with a bad attitude than a feral kitten! She of course told me she rather handle a feral cat than a friendly dog!

I don't know how he got out of the trap. I suspect that when I put the trap in, the rings caught on another trap and were held up high enough for him to force his way out. Fortunately the blanket contained him, otherwise he might have gotten out while I was driving down the freeway! I poke fun at Joe H. because he always zip ties every trap shut. He does this because he lost a cat while driving once. I now understand his paranoia! Either bungees or carabiners seem in order for every trap, especially during transport and staging.

Clark County Library District Petstacular Pet Fair

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:01:00 +0000

I found out about this event when I trapped some cats at the Enterprise Library. I applied for a table (the price was right $0) and when she heard about what we do, she immediately agreed to make sure we got a space. The weather forecast was dicey but I loaded up the truck with the drop trap, 4 traps, a trap isolator, class fliers, a donation jar, and all of my trapping junk for show and tell. I stopped by Keith's and grabbed a couple of his saw horses. The library had plenty of young people to help me roll the trap dolly and all of my stuff to the table.

Wendy showed up and helped talk to people and took some great photographs. The majority of people there had dogs, and most of the vendors were dog oriented but overwhelmingly people were sympathetic about the number of cats being euthanized annually. I got a few email addresses and chatted up the ordinance and the class, and chatted down trapping and euthanizing cats. A brief but intense rain shower drove most of the attendees and vendors away around 12:30. I decided to pack up call it a day. A few people donated a little cash and one of our patrons cut us a nice check which I appreciate immensely! I look forward to doing more events like this to spread the word about community cat overpopulation and to empower more people to help themselves!

Why Trapping and Removing Does not Reduce the Community Cat Population

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:45:00 +0000

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein, (attributed) US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

Someone recently commented on another posting that I wrote. Their comment and my response follow.

"Most if not damn near all feral cat supports refuse to listen to reason much less acknowledge all the environmental damage feral cats do. They do spread all kinds of diseases and parasites, kill native wild life, push out native predators, dig in gardens and sandbox were kids play and leave behind cat crap that carries all kinds of pathogens.

Feral cats are pests, nuisances, and a danger to native wild life and feral cat colonies shouldn't be support. They need to be wiped out." - Anonymous

These are all valid concerns and should not be ignored, but when you say they need to be wiped out, you propose something that is clearly not possible! If you want to change the law so that it's legal to shoot or poison or do whatever it is you want to wipe the cats, go ahead! Until that time, we will continue to use the only legal and proven method to reduce the cat population.

Even if you could implement some fantasy solution it would not work. You could poison, shoot and trap them but you will never get them all. People will always find ways to feed cats and in a short period of time, you'll be back to being overrun by cats!

You can complain all you want or you can actually do something effective to control the population! Wishing for the cats to go away or bemoaning the fact that they kill wildlife will not help get rid of them. Trapping and killing them may reduce the population at one place temporarily, but as long as cats are reproducing in others it's like trying to empty a bathtub with a teaspoon while the faucet is running

So what is the the solution? Solving the problem with mass eradication techniques like poisoning, trapping, using dogs, etc. would only be effective in a small isolated geographical area like an island. Trying the techniques anywhere in Las Vegas would be too expensive, politically unpopular, and for the most part illegal. Once you've cleared an area of cats, new ones will simply move in. So instead of any organized, concentrated effort to deal with the problem, we have citizens trapping nuisance cats all over the city and having them destroyed at taxpayer expense. Some 18,000 plus cats were euthanized in Clark County in 2008. Imagine if 12,000 of these animals were nuisance community cats. With a population of 200,000 community cats in the valley, how long does it take for the remaining 188,000 cats to replace those 12,000 through breeding? A couple of weeks?!?!? Show me the neighborhood, business or area in town that is free from feral cats because of trapping and having them removed.

What if instead of destroying these animals, we sterilized them and returned them to the streets? Combined with the 7000+ Trap Neuter Returns being done by local volunteers and non-profits, there would be 10% of the population that was sterilized. We'd start to reach the 20,000 to 25,000 community cat sterilizations needed to really start to curbing the free-roaming cat population growth. The alternative? Continue to dump money into an endless pit and continue to drown in cats! Destroying these animals is waste of taxpayer resources! If the approach had any hope of working, stray/feral intakes at the shelter would not be continuing to rise at the alarming rate that they are!

The concept behind TNR is simple. Trap and remove the animal, and unsterilized animals will breed and replace that animal easily because there is less competition for food, shelter, habitat etc. Trap and sterilize an animal, and now the remaining unsterilized cats have to compete with the sterilized one for resources. Sterilize a significant portion in one area and the growth rate will slow. Sterilize enough animals in one area and the population will decline over time. Any unsterilized newcomers have to compete with the sterilized cats. I tell people that have a lot of cats around that they are going to be there anyways. Would you rather have sterilized ones that don't fight, spray, yowl in heat etc. or have kittens? Or would you rather have unsterilized cats moving into the habitat you conveniently provided for them by removing their competition?

Between Mar 2009 - Jul 2009 there were two approximately two dozen new litters of kittens born near the shelter where I volunteer. Many people were feeding the cats but few of them were sterilized. These kittens found there way into the shelter by people who had found theme. Many were sickly, many died, but many made their way into an already overburdened adoption program. Many were added to the existing cat population. I quickly made the connection between these feral cats breeding out of control, the mountain of cats at the shelter, and the embarrassing euthanasia and return rate this city has for cats.

Everyone in the area complained about the cats and the large number of kittens, but no one wanted to take responsibility for them. Property owners were victims and could do nothing but ask to have the cats removed and complain about the pests like bugs and birds which feasted on the food left by sloppy caretakers. Clark County Animal Control has neither the staffing nor mandate to trap cats. Caretakers had all manner of excuses. They were too busy, too poor, didn't have traps etc. to properly manage them. I learned about the county's 10.06 ordinance and decided to TNR the cats myself. I methodically cataloged the cats, where they were being fed and made contacts with the caretakers, property owners, and people who work and see the cats each day. Between 4 different sites, nearly 90 cats roamed and fed from an ample supply of food provided by caretakers who in many instances did not even know other people were feeding the same cats!

Borrowing traps and using spay/neuter slots paid for by donations or county grant money, I trapped and sterilized 3 cats at the monthly July HCWS feral clinic.

In Aug, I trapped 11, and followed on with 4 or 5 cats in weekly slots. In Sep, I trapped 22 for the clinic and followed on with another 9 that week. In Oct. we delivered another 14. At this point we had fixed nearly 60 cats and a significant percentage of the cats, 66% had been sterilized or removed to be adopted.

We have continued to trap the holdouts over the intervening months at this point have TNR'd nearly 70 cats and removed 7 for adoption. Since Oct. Only three kittens have survived and all three have been sterilized and returned. There are still viable male and female cats in the population, but they must compete with the 60+ cats that have been sterilized! This spring and summer we will see, but my trapping partner and I notice that there are visibly less cats than there were last year. There is no magic cure all for this problem but removing the cats provides only a very temporary fix. I must continually monitor and trap newcomers, but the same would be true if the cats had been removed. At least now, I can be assured that these newcomers have to compete with all of the fixed cats in the area for food!

Clearly I would not have invested the time and effort into this project, if the cats were going to be removed and destroyed? Nor would any of the people that helped me. We do a service for the community and save the taxpayers lots of money. How many kittens have we prevented from needlessly ending up at Lied to be euthanized at taxpayer cost? Support Trap Neuter Return, because whether you love them or hate them, we all want less cats!

City of North Las Vegas Threatens Buddhist Temple Cats

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:35:00 +0000

In Nov, 2009 Community Cat Coalition of Clark County (C5) volunteers trapped, staged, and transported to Heaven Can Wait Society monthly feral clinic nearly 40 cats from the Thai Buddhist temple in North Las Vegas. Over the next several days, the monks continued trapping and at the end, 57 cats had been trapped, spayed/neutered, and returned to the temple. The Monks were thrilled that the cats would no longer be producing the large number of kittens they had seen in the past. We have remained in contact with the temple and will continue maintaining the virtually 100% spay/neuter rate.

On Friday the 19th of February at about 4pm, the Monks at the temple received a visit from Dale Smock, North Las Vegas Police Department Animal Control Manager. They were told that they would be allowed to have only three cats at the temple or face a $1200 fine if the excess cats were not removed. They were told to round up the cats and adopt them, providing names and address of where the cats went. If this could not be done, the  Monks were to trap them with 11 AC provided traps and turn them over to NLVAC. They were told that they have until the 24th of February, Wednesday to begin complying.
Mr. Smock was evasive when asked what would happen to any cats turned over to NLVAC. What he wasn't willing to say was that they would be taken to Lied and virtually all of them would be killed. These are cats that are not socialized to living in homes and are not adoptable as regular pets. The monks see no way to avoid complying and having the cats removed and killed. The ordinance provides for an appeal to the city council, which we are in the process of determining how to file, since the monks were not provided a written copy of the complaint.

The Monks are profoundly distressed about this situation. The Buddhist temple is considered to be a sanctuary and all living things that find their way there are cared for and protected by the Monks. This is a sacred duty. Buddhists believe in reincarnation. It is entirely possible for you to come back in the next life as any animal, including a cat. A cat that finds it's way to the temple, rather than say a used car lot, is entirely likely to be a fellow Buddhist looking for sanctuary. Being forced to pick three cats to live and trap the rest to die is a profound affront to their faith. It is on the same scale as calling the priest out of Sunday service, telling him to pick three of his congregation, and then forcing him to nail the door shut on the rest and set the Church on fire.

The Monks want nothing more that to live in peace with their community. They understand the problems that an uncontrolled breeding population of cats would cause and have been very cooperative in supporting the responsible management of these cats with Trap, Neuter and Return. With continued management of the cats the number is expected to decline as time goes by. This is a fairly isolated property and it is unlikely that a significant number leave there to bother any neighbors. If any of these cats are causing problems for neighbors there are several methods to address these issues that we would be happy to assist with.

If this site were a couple of miles away, in unincorporated Clark County, instead of NLV, the cats would be protected under the very progressive feral 10.06 ordinance! This ordinance has fostered the program which made the spay/neuter of these animals possible. County Animal control provides us with traps for long-term loan, and county grant money is used to spay/neuter many of the animals that we trap. 

Trap Neuter Return and Manage is the only proven effective way to reduce the Community Cat population! The goal of our community-based TNR program is to have more sterilized animals on the streets as opposed to unsterilized animals, which will in turn halt the growth of the population. Every time one of the sterilized animals is destroyed, the ratio is going in the wrong direction!

If you would like to contribute money to help with fines or legal fees for the monks and or support the temple cats, send contributions to:

Wat Buddhapavana Temple

ATTN: Temple Cats
2959 West Gowan Road
North Las Vegas, NV 89032-3437

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Community Cat Coalition of Clark County:

C5

4933 W. Craig Road #248

Las Vegas, Nevada

89130-2730

UPDATE 2/23 9:00 AM : We will be holding a peaceful protest in honor of national spay day at the Buddhapavana Temple located at Gowan and Simmons from 1 - 5 PM. Come join us and help protect these community cats!

UPDATE 2/23 6:30 PM: We have reached an agreement to meet next week in person to further discuss the case. Please cease any emails or calls to NLV officials until further notice! Thanks a lot to those that did call or write, you certainly got their attention!

Groundhog Day HCWS Feral Tuesday Clinic - Day 2 and 3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:50:00 +0000

When I woke up in the morning, Tommy Boy had eaten all of his food so I loaded him up again. After feeding, watering, and changing paper for 15 cats, I found myself late to go meet Kristina at a mini-storage near the Palms hotel. We got there around 3:30. I setup the drop trap on one side of the complex while Kristina put traps out on the other side. I had my camera and tripod so I setup the camera where I could see the display while hiding from the cats by standing around a corner. It took nearly 15 minutes for the first one to work up the nerve to enter the drop trap. Emily had TNR'd a bunch of cats (15+?) here so many of them were previously fixed. I could see that he was not one of the four I was after on this side. After a few more minutes more of the cats started to appear. A small black cat appeared, and I slowly peeked around the corner with my binoculars to see if it was the one I was after. It was! Now there two cats eating the bait. A second ear tipped cat entered the trap. Fortunately some sound spooked her and she bounded away. I started thinking about spring the trap when I saw one of the grey and white cats checking things out. I decided to wait and he too entered the trap.

Preparing to pull the string I accidentally dropped the plastic reel and it clattered on the ground. I thought for sure the the noise would scare the cats but they sat there unperturbed. I sprung the trap and knabbed all three. We released the previously trapped cat and put the other two into traps. I reset the drop trap, but 30 minutes later there was still no action. We trapped one more from the other end and left four traps behind to be checked later.

Moving on I met Susan, David and Erika at Nathan Adelson Hospice. They had managed to catch a couple and when we finsihed up there, we had five more bring the total so far this location up to 10. A minor SNAFU occurred as I was convinced that we had left a trap somewhere at NAH, when in fact I had never counted the traps which were left at the storage place! Tricia and Trudy helped me at the White Sands and we manged to trap three more cats. Bobbi stopped the storage place and delivered two more cats. Jean, Denise and Joe had managed to trap 4 more at the NSPCA, including three that I had specifically targetted! Yeah! The total for the night ended up at 14. We staged these cats at the Humane Society.

The next day, Monday, I delivered the cats that we had trapped on Sat. night to the clinic and got the checked in. The intention was to have a lot of cats ready to go first thing in the morning. Later Tricia and I took one final stab and Nathan Adelson and the White Sands. At NAH we managed to trap 2 more but had had no luck at the White Sands. Leftover kibble in the food bowls explained the reason. One very wary cat spent a long time checking out the drop trap from different angles while we hid from site behind the vehicles. Just as she about to go into the trap, a juvenile I nicknamed the "crack kitten" came zooming up to her, scaring her away from the trap. The crack kitten got his name when on the first night he ran in circles around the empty pool, never straying more than a couple of inches away from the edge.

The next morning I learned Tara would be bringing in another cat, and that Bobbi had two more. I called Kerry at HCWS to let her know how many we would be bringing in. When we got to the clinic, it was obvious that the 100 cat day was going to be a success! Before Bobbi and I arrived with our 20 cats, they had already checked in nearly a hundred. With so many cats to handle it was obvious that more help was needed so I decided to stay and see how I could help. Initially I changed paper in traps, but Harold soon took me in to do what they lovingly refer to as "The Huckeberry" or cleaning and sterilizing the surgical instruments in spay packs. Having worked years ago in a hospital performing the same work on a much larger scale, I found it quite easy to fall into a rhythm and keep up with the workload. I snuck out for a couple of hours in the afternoon to go see a client. The last surgery finished up at around 6:00 and by the time we cleaned up, and loaded up cats it was after 8 PM. 117 Signed in with 4 "Already Been Neutered" and 1 euthanasia.

Bobbi and I took our haul of 37 cats to the Humane Society office for staging. After feeding and watering all of the cats, it was nearly 10:00 PM. After showing Bobbi some of my videos and BS'ing some, it was after 10:30 by the time I got home and I was exhausted. Doc Henderson asked for 100, and Valley trappers over delivered!

Groundhog Day HCWS Feral Tuesday Clinic - Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:10:00 +0000

The last month and a half I've really struggled to be productive at trapping. Bad weather, poor planning, and uncooperative caretakers have all taken their toll on my ability to deliver cats. The final straw came during the trapping for the Jan feral clinic. I had access to nearly 50 traps and a half dozen trappers. We delivered 11 cats and that was only because Angela trapped 8! I spent nearly 12 hours to catch a measly 3 cats. GRRRRR! I was determined that this week, I'd be prepared to fill the 30-40 cat quota we're expected to deliver each Tuesday.

On Thu afternoon, I received and email from Emily stating that they wanted to do 100 cats the following Tuesday. By Friday afternoon I was calling and emailing trappers to figure out who could help when. The response was quite positive. I printed up some signs to notify caretakers that we were trapping, called some other caretakers and checked out a couple of the sites to make sure the food was taken up. On Sat morning I returned to police up food from the feeder whom I correctly predicted would ignore my sign.

Sat afternoon I rolled out with a dozen traps and the drop trap. I setup the droptrap on the sidewalk outside the landscaping company near the NSPCA. I've done extensive trapping in the is area (it's where I got my start!) and at this location alone, I've trapped 22 cats. There are only a few left to be done amongst the horde. I'd tried unsuccessfully a few times to trap these but to no avail. It was light enough to see well when I started, but at that time there was still too much traffic for the cats to come out. After an hour or so, things quieted down and the cats started feeding from the drop trap. I know these cats quite well, so I knew exactly I wanted to catch. A long-haired calico I called "Princess". She had successfully eluded the summer dragnet resulting in a new litter of five which had to be trapped this fall also! The second cat was a white and black short-hair that was new to the colony. He'd shown up a few months ago and was shy and had resisted previous attempts at trapping.

My truck was parked a couple of hundred feet away from the drop trap and I had setup on the hood of my truck a small command center consisting of my binoculars, a spotlight and my spotting scope. I watched ear-tipped cat after ear-tipped cat enter the trap and eat the food. Just as I was beginning to think it was going to be a bust, Princess poked her head out between the fence. My heart started racing as she approached the trap. A car came speeding out of the adjacent business complex and she ducked back inside of the fence. A few minutes later, she cautiously came out and entered the trap just as another cat was leaving. Double checking that she was inside I sprung the trap and got her! I hustled over and removed her from the drop trap.

About 10 minutes later, a crowd was starting to form around the drop trap again. A couple of already fixed cats had been in and out of the trap.but no sign of the other one I was after. Suddenly, a cat appeared on the wall. I looked with my binoculars and saw it was the white and black cat. He jumped down and eyed the drop trap cautiously. Skittish, he decided to run across the street and view it from a different angle. After several minutes, he cautiously approached and then entered the trap. I sprung the trap on him, hustled over and got him quickly out of the drop trap.

Joe B. arrived and helped me setup traps in the wash and stayed to monitor them while I set off to me Trudy and Tricia at Nathan Adelson Hospice. By the time I arrived, Trudy had already trapped one. We setup some more traps and a few hours later, we had trapped a total of seven cats from NAH. Soft-hearted Joe delivered another cat from the NSPCA with a questionable eartip and an injury to his eye. I verified the that he was one that had been previously trapped and then pondered what to do with Tommy Boy. Stone-hearted Mike would have turned him lose in the wash without hesitation. Now though, I had him, it seemed like the right thing to try to get him some antibiotics and hold him for a little while to see if his eye would clear up.

We moved onto the White Sands Motel on the strip and trapped 5 more. We packed up from the White Sands around midnight and I went home with 15 cats, 14 keepers and Tommy Boy. By the time I got everyone food and water, it was 1:30 AM.

(to be continued...)

January Happenings at C5

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:35:00 +0000

Monthly Meeting
Despite the torrential downpour a little more than a dozen folks dragged themselves out to our Jan monthly meeting on the 19th. I'd like the thank David from Nevada Corporate Center for generously allowing us the use of their meeting room. We look forward to hosting other meetings in the venue! Come join us on Feb 25 to meet other cat friendly folks and eat cake!

Jan TNR Classes
Our first two Introduction to TNR classes were held at the HCWS Spay/Neuter Clinic on the 9th and the 23rd. 15 students attended these two classes and got great information on trapping, staging, transporting cats humanely. The new Training Coordinator Tricia Brain has jumped right in producing very professional looking training manuals as well as preparing to take over presentation of the training material.

Trapper Certification Process
C5 is committed to humanely trapping, staging, and transporting feral cats. As feral cats are wild animals, trappers, stagers and transporters need to use caution. C5 supports a TNR certification process, which is required to be a trapper, stager, or transporter.

The certification process includes:

    * Attending a two (2) hour C5 TNR class
    * Eight (8) hours in the field with a mentor
    * Four (4) hours volunteering at one(1) monthly feral cat clinic to gain a better understanding of the requirements and processes

Email TNRClass@gmail.com to register for the class. Contact Debbie alyse24@aol.com to volunteer for the clinic.

Trapping for Weekly Slots
We continue to attempt to fill 30 weekly slots on Tuesdays for community cats from Clark County. With the bad weather it's proven to be a challenge but with the formation of a number of trapping teams, we hope to get a little more organized and continue to deliver cats. If you'd like to assist in trapping for these slots, contact Keith info@clarkcountyferalcats.org to find a trapper team near you.

Jan HCWS Monthly Feral Clinic
http://kittenpaparazzi.blogspot.com/2010/01/hcws-january-2010-monthly-feral-clinic.html

Monthly HCWS Feral Clinic No No's
Please do not bring cats in carriers or non-approved traps. Arrange to get a trap before the morning of the clinic and transfer the animal into the trap before coming to the clinic.Transferring cats disrupts the check in process and you may be asked to step aside while other people's cats are processed. If you need assistance in performing a transfer be prepared to wait and provide your own trap, otherwise there is no guarantee that a trap will be available.

Make sure you have pre-printed labels which include the following lines: Trapper, Trapper Phone, Trapping Location, Sponsor, Sponsor Phone. A template is available on the clarkcountyferalcats.org website. If you do not, you may be asked to step aside while you fill out the labels. Make sure you sign a release every time!

The monthly clinic is only for community cats that are going to be released back to outdoor colonies. Cats that will be fostered, adopted or rescued in any way are not be brought into the monthly feral clinic! The clinic targets the free-roaming cat population and the vets, vet techs and others who volunteer at the clinic expect to work on this demographic of animals. Cats that are fixed at the monthly clinic receive no paperwork (sterilization/shots), are ear tipped, and are exposed to all manner of parasites and disease found amongst the feral population. If you trap kittens small enough to tame or friendly strays that you intend to foster or adopt, do not bring them to the monthly clinic. Contact Keith at info@clarkcountyferalcats.org or myself if you need to have an animal fixed that will not go back to a colony. HCWS is happy to aid folks and animals who are truly in need. All that is expected is honesty about the animals and what will happen to them.

Public Outreach
Keith and I attended a couple of events for public outreach this month. One was Chris G.'s town hall meeting on fixing County budget shortfalls and the other was the Westley Neighborhood associations monthly meeting. At both events, Keith expressed the advantage of a community based TNR program: why use tax payer dollars to endlessly kill cats when volunteers and resources are available to do TNR?

In other tabling event news, C5 will have a booth at the Clark County Library Districts Petstacular event of Feb 27 at the Rainbow library. If anyone is aware of other pet friendly venues where we can have a booth, let me know and I'll try to get us signed up! I've wanted to start tabling at Petsmarts, Petcos, etc. to push more traffic to the TNR Class and get more caretakers to register etc. Several cat adoption rescues in town already have arrangements to run operations out of the locations. I've contacted a couple and I think we can leverage the traffic they already have by having C5 volunteers available to give information about the Community Cat problem and upcoming classes, clinics, etc. If you are interested, contact me with a Petsmart/Petco location near you and the days or hours you'd be willing to spend.

Drop Trap Primer
Information on building and using a drop trap to catch more cats!

http://kittenpaparazzi.blogspot.com/2010/01/whys-and-hows-of-drop-trapping.html

Feb Upcoming Events:
Introduction to TNR Class, Saturday Feb 6 and 20 12:00 - 2:00 PM
Heaven Can Wait Society Spay/Neuter Clinic
546 N. Eastern Ave
Email TNRClass@gmail.com to register

HCWS Monthly Feral Clinic Sunday Feb 21 6:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Heaven Can Wait Society Spay/Neuter Clinic
546 N. Eastern Ave
Volunteers needed to aid in checking in cats from 6:30 - 10:00 AM
Email alyse24@aol.com to volunteer

C5 Monthly Meeting Thursday Feb 25 6:30 - 8:00 PM
Plaza Tower and Suites
101 E. Convention Center Dr. #P-111

Petstacular Pet Fair Saturday Feb 27 10:00 to 2:00 PM
Rainbow Library
3150 N. Buffalo Dr.

Michael White

President

Have Drop Trap, will travel...

702-688-0295

Chat Google Talk: phreephallin@gmail.com

Contact Me

--- @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now

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HCWS January 2010 Monthly Feral Clinic

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:12:00 +0000

Despite the poor weather and the fact that several large projects did not come together for C5 as planned, 274 cats were signed into the clinic with 98 coming in under C5. 265 surgeries were performed with 156 males being neutered and 109 females being spayed. 6 were "Already Been Spay/Neutered (ABS/N)" and sadly 3 had to be euthanized. The check in process went fairly smoothly considering that Debbie, the largest cog in the wheel was unable to be there. Caretakers were lined up as early as 6:30 to drop off their cats. Most people cooperated with the new check in policy, and lined their vehicles up for drop off. Printed labels were provided for those who did not have them and for the most part the check in went smoothly. As a reminder, please don't get to the clinic before 7:00 AM. There are no prizes for being first, and as a practical matter, even if you're first in line, you'll never get checked in before the cats Emily trapped the night before! Besides, you'll probably end up behind Keith with 40 traps or Trudy with 80 and have to sit and wait anyways!

The day started off with a bang as a poorly balanced trap fell off one of the first carts. I saw it tipping off and watched in horror as it flipped over and landed on the ground upside down. No longer secured by the rings, the trap door started to fall open. I rushed over and blocked the door closed with my hand. Quickly grabbing the trap with my other hand I flipped the trap over in one motion averting disaster.

This was the first month that non ring-door style traps were not allowed at the monthly clinic. Seven non-conforming traps and two carriers contained cats that had to be transferred into allowed traps. Fortunately for the folks who brought these cats in, I had exactly the number of traps needed to trade out carriers/traps for them. I learned my lesson this month, and next month I won't be bringing any extra traps with me! Transferring the cats and keeping track of who needed to be transferred back after the surgery was a pain and gummed up the check in process!

During the second or third transfer, a cat managed to escape. Without even thinking about it, I tossed a towel on top of him and we got him into the trap without any further problems.

Harold was happy to have a good number. Keith was happy he didn't have to take any heat for any of the cats brought in under C5. I'd like to thank Tricia, David, Susan, David, Matt for helping with the checkin.

I took just enough pictures and video to cut together this little diddy on video. Bonus points if you can name the composer and the musical though really it should be quite obvious ;-)

Finally, even though there were a large number of cats, the clinic went so smoothly that Dr. Henderson and Harold had enough free time to dance to hip hop songs with me while Joanie taped the entire incident. I shudder to think of that video making it into public! Next month, barring more bad weather, the monthly clinic sign-in number will break 320, I'm sure of it!

Michael White
President

Have Drop Trap, will travel...

Chat Google Talk: phreephallin@gmail.com

Contact Me

Why's and How's of Drop Trapping

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:30:00 +0000

When I first started learning about TNR, I came across this video of entitled "A Drop trap catches more cats!" I watched the video and was impressed with what I saw. I did a little more research and built my own drop trap. After using it to catch well over a 100 cats, I'd like to share what I know so that more people can use this versatile and effective trapping tool. With a good design and construction, proper tactics and patience and you will easily catch the most trap shy cats.

THE PRO'S:

1. Able to trap cats which are trap shy from being previously trapped.

2. Able to catch multiple cats at one time.

3. Able to select individuals out of a crowd.

4. Able to "stand-off", or watch and activate trap from a distance.

THE CONS: My trap is bulky, heavy and difficult to transport. Finding a good spot to place it is often difficult and managing the string can be a pain. Impractical to use in some locations.

THE TRAP: The trap I built is 3'X3' and 1.5' tall. I used 1"X2" lumber which I screwed and glued together to form a box and the frame for the transfer door. The transfer door was fashioned out of a piece of plywood. A crude flap is attached to the back of the trap with hinges. To reduce the weight at the front of the trap, I placed the door in the rear corner. I lined the bottom with weather stripping to dampen the noise of the trap falling. I then attached garden netting using zip ties and rope.

THE WEIGHT and COVER: The weight, a kitty litter bucket filled with rocks, sits on the crude flap in the back of the prevents the cats from being able to move the trap. The cover, a fitted queen size sheet , calms them down when placed over the trap. I bundle it up and keep it with the weight at all times. As soon as the trap is sprung, the cover is immediately available to quiet the cats.

THE PROP STICK and STRING: The prop stick is approximately 12" long. Something like a paint stirring stick would be good, but I usually just used scrap from parts I have sometimes as large as 1"x2". I try to bevel the end that is going to be on the ground so that when the stick is leaning at an angle, the bevel is flat on the ground. I also place a notch on top to hold the trap. With the notch and bevel the stick should be quite stable while holding the trap. Cats have rubbed up against the trap numerous times and I have yet to have one knock it over. I drill a hole in the front part of bottom end and attach the string at this point. Pulling the stick from this point knocks it over quite easily. I also like to pad the stick with weather stripping or tape so that it doesn't make as much noise when the trap is sprung.

The string has to be lightweight without any stretch. Mason's string works very well. Make sure to wind it back up using the reel as opposed to wrapping the string around the reel which will cause it to twist up.

THE TACTICS: I try to cause as little commotion as possible when setting the drop trap up. A slow quiet approach is best if you don't want to upset the cats too much. The trap should sit on a flat surface so that no gaps show underneath the trap. A tenacious cat may be able to wiggle underneath! Ideally, I place the trap so I can view it from the front left quarter (my transfer door is on the right side). This is the best view for me to see if the cat is in and not beside or behind the trap. Normally, I put the prop stick at the front left corner of the trap with notch holding the trap and the string hole closest to me. The bait goes in the very back center of the trap. At this location, any cat that is eating the bait is completely inside of the trap. I usually bait the drop trap with a lot of food to hopefully draw multiples and because with a lot of food, cats will relax and sit down to eat, making them easier to trap.

If I think a cat is especially wary, I might move the prop stick further back to hold the trap up higher. It is also not unusual for me to sit in my vehicle and at a distance of up to 300 feet. A pair of binoculars is absolutely necessary for determining if the cat is actually in the trap or not, especially when lighting conditions are poor. At night, if I want to sit back at a distance, I usually select locations for the trap that are underneath a street lamp or other light source.

Another option is for the person pulling the string to hide out of site from the trap. A second person can watch from a better vantage point and signal when to spring the trap. If you are going to use this system, practice your communication signals before you start trapping. Screwing up the signals is a sure fire way to miss cats that you should have trapped! Another tactic is to setup the trap outside of a window or door, lead the string inside and then watch from inside the building in the dark.

Things other than food will cause a cat to enter the drop trap. One cat sat next to the trap for two hours until the frustrated caretaker went over and shooed her underneath the trap! Laser pointers, hanging feathers, toys and catnip have all been successfully used to get cats to enter drop traps.

SPRINGING THE TRAP: Always ensure that the string is running directly to your position without being snagged on anything. Also ensure that there is little slack in the string and that once the trap is set, you never leave the string or take your eyes away from the trapping area. Once you decide to spring the trap, make sure that you pull with as much force as you can. If I am standing, I will actually walk or run away from the trap while I pull to take up the slack even quicker. If I am inside of a vehicle, I make sure that the string is taut and that I am positioned so that I can generate enough power to spring the trap quickly. Cats are incredibly fast and strong and given even a split second of hesitation, they will find a way to slip out!

As soon as you have sprung the trap, be prepared to move in, cover the trap and transfer the cat out of the drop trap. A fearful cat will batter itself against the inside of the drop trap seeking a way to escape if left uncovered. Covering the animal will quickly calm it down and keep it from injuring itself. Transfer cats out of the drop trap as quickly as possible because a) resetting the drop trap will allow you to trap another and b) until the cat is in the transfer trap, it isn't truly "in the bag"!

TRANSFERRING CATS: My transfer door is secured shut by two bungee cords which are attached to the drop trap. I expose the transfer door by moving the drop trap cover out of the way. I butt a trap (with it's guillotine door open) up against the transfer door of the drop trap. I secure the trap using the two bungee cords and then cover the trap but leave the end uncovered so it looks like an escape route.

Open the drop traps guillotine door. If you are lucky the cat will automatically make it's way into the transfer trap. If you are not so lucky, you may be able to spook it by peeking into the drop trap from the opposite sides. In extreme cases I have used long skinny poles or spray bottles with water to gently prod cats into the transfer trap.

MIKE'S DROP TRAP RULES LEARNED THROUGH MISTAKES!

These are rules that I have come up with based on mistakes that I have made that have allowed cats to escape, or become injured unnecessarily. The injuries were scraped noses and faces which occurred when I was using a smaller, more lightweight design. Since the cats could easily lift the trap they would bang themselves up frantically! Just yesterday, I had to add #1 to the list as I had my first cat successfully wiggle out from underneath the drop trap!

1. Ensure that the drop trap sits flat enough to prevent cats from wiggling underneath.

2. Never leave the string once the trap is set.
3. Ensure that the string is running cleanly to your position without much slack.
4. Watch the trap and be prepared to pull the string at any time!
5. Double check that the cat is actually in the trap (wait till its eating!)
6. Pull with all of the speed and violence you can muster!
7. Transfer cats out of drop trap as quickly as possible.
8. Don't open the transfer door too far if it allows the cat a place to exit the drop trap other than into the transfer trap.

9. Make sure your materials and design are secure and minimize the chances of injury to the cats.

10. Inspect and repair the trap frequently to prevent cats from being able to exploit a flaw or weakness.

Michael White

President

Have Drop Trap, will travel...

Contact Me

December Happenings with C5

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:57:00 +0000

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season and and a great New Year! Santa brought the Community Cat Coalition of Clark County (C5) a great present for Christmas this year, official incorporation in the state of Nevada as a non-profit. Our favorite lawyer has mailed off our 501 c3, so it was submitted before the new year! Bad weather and difficult winter trapping conditions led to a low turnout at the December HCWS feral clinic. 200 were signed into the clinic with 66 sponsored by C5. SNAPS, a group which regularly brings in 40-50 cats, only brought in 9! The light turnout provided the perfect opportunity to try out our new check-in process which made things run quite smoothly. The new process will be used for the January 24 clinic so be prepared. Helping with the check-in this month was an eye-opening experience for me. People please, handle the cats in traps with care! Our next TNR class will be on Jan 9th at the HCWS clinic from 12 - 2 PM with classes following every two weeks. Email tnrclass@gmail.com to register. Attached is a flyer for the class. Help us spread the word by printing and posting these at places where one might find cat fans. Debbie has been busy finding folks to fill key positions. We are still looking to fill the Marketing Coordinator and Website Developer positions. We are always looking for trappers, stagers, transporters and more TNR Coordinators to host trap banks, and coordinate with trappers/caretakers in answering trouble calls and managing their colonies. Contact Debbie at alyse24@aol.com if you are interested in filling any of the above positions! Finally, our January general meeting has been scheduled for the Tuesday, the 19th from 6:30 - 8:00 PM at a new location: 101 Convention Center Dr.

Mike White
President, C5

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C5 TNR Class Flyer-8 5x11-1.pdf (169 KB)

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Smoothing the Feral Clinic Check-in process

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:14:00 +0000

When multiple people arrive with cats at the same time, and all have unloaded their cats onto the sidewalk in front of the clinic door, confusion reigns! This can make it can be difficult for Gina/Debbie to keep people in the order that they arrive. It also exposes the cats to the elements, and causes the people to handle traps more frequently than necessary.

Look at those traps on the ground in the photograph! It hurts my back to see Susan have to stoop over to label that trap! Why ever set them down on the ground in the first place? For the Dec clinic, turnout was light and it was a great opportunity to try out a new check-in process. Instead of allowing people to park and unload their cats on their own, we instead forced folks to loop around the parking lot and stop in front of the clinic doors. This allows a line to form, ensuring people are addressed in the order that they arrive, and it also allows the traps to be loaded directly onto carts. Since the volume was so light , we never really had a line of vehicles waiting to check-in, but once we start getting higher volume months, there will definitely be a line!

There was some confusion as some people struggled with the concept of turning around and pulling up in front of the clinic door. For the Jan clinic, we should have signs and a dedicated guide to help indicate where people should should stop for the drop-off.

You can help smooth the check-in process by labeling all traps properly. If you arrive at the clinic without labels, you may be asked to move out of line to complete the labeling process. If you are moved out of the line, once you have filled out and labeled all traps, you will rejoin the line at the end! A template along with instructions for pre-populating and printing these labels can be found here. The labels list the trappers name, phone number, trapping location and sponsor organization.

Also, remember that at the Jan 24 clinic, only "Tru-Catch"-style traps with gravity operated doors will be allowed. Leave the Tomahawk's, Havahart's and other spring-loaded door style traps at home as they won't be accepted at the feral clinic. Volunteers can help also help by parking in the designated parking spaces along the south edge of the shopping center. This will leave the area in front of the clinic clear for loading and unloading, and leave space to form a line of vehicles.

89118 Street Kitten - Captured!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:42:00 +0000

It took three attempts before I could approach her close enough to have a chance. On the third attempt, it took me about 30 minutes to maneuver myself into a position where I was kneeling in front of her with the net in my right hand. I waited until she was distracted by the noise of a passing vehicle and then sprung the net on her. She struggled and fought but I managed to keep a hold of her as I got her out of the net and into the carrier. I hate to use this tactic on a cat, but honestly I don't think she would ever go into a trap! Her mom has eluded the traps every time while 22 cats from the same colony have been TNR'd. Her nose got a little banged up (or maybe she has ringworm?) and her eye looks bad. I'll get her to the vet tomorrow. Thanks for all of the offers for fostering and help with her medical. If my current fostering or medical plans fall through, I know who else offered and I'll hit them up.

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My Favorite Three-Legged Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:56:00 +0000

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I met Pancake last April while he was recovering from surgery. He had escaped from his owner's yard and had been struck by a car. When the owner refused to pay for the surgery, the NSPCA stepped in and provided care or him. Supposedly the staff at the vets office started calling him 'Pancake' because he liked te breakfast staple so much. Though he was wearing a cone and short one appendage, he didn't lack for any enthusiasm at seeing people, other dogs or for pulling on the leash while he walked. Because of his poor leash behavior, one of the NSPCA staff asked me to walk him.

The first time I took him out, his three paws scrabbled excitedly on the concrete floor and he could barely gain a purchase. Worried that he might tear open his stitches, the dog manager scooped him up and carried him to the door before setting him down. For the next three or four weeks, I did the same almost every moring. He put up with the indignity of being carried well. I doubt Pancake had ever been walked much by his owner. If he had been, it had been straining at the end of the leash choking himsef. Judging by his reaction to seeing other dogs, people, etc. I doubt he had much interacton.

Each morning I took him out and we walked in small circles wth him constantly trying to strain against the leash. Slowly, without yelling, or jerking, or correcting in any way, I taught him to walk next to me. For the first cuple of weeks we never made it out of the parking lot. We would do a short walk with me constantly changing drections to keep the leash loose and Pancake coming up to me. Each day, we expanded our range a little more. At first he was incredibly fearful of vehicles. Once I watched his eyes get as huge as saucers as a car approached from across te parking lot. After that I was careful to slowly introduce him cars and to have plenty of treats nearby when I did. Today, he barely notices cars at all and will run next to the bicycle.

Unfortunately, Pancake has shown aggressive tendacies towards other dogs. With the right introductions and supervision, I'm sure he could be integrated into another pack, but for the average owner, he'd probably be best as the only dog. I've worked with Pancake on basic obedience. He knows wait, sit, leave it, touch and come. He loves and deserves attention and affection. He needs an owner who can give him more than being locked away in a back yard or in a kennel at a shelter.

See Pancake and other dogs up for adopton at the http://www.nevadasca.org

89118 Street Kitten

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:36:00 +0000

This kitten's mother has had three litters this year. I've been after her for months, but now I can trap inside the yard, and I think there's a good chance I can get her. This kitten is so bold, I think I'd like to try to net him before I trap momma. His eye looks infected and I'd like to get him some care so he doesn't lose it. If I do manage to get him, is anybody interested in taming/fostering?

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Compassion and Respect for Cats in Traps

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:56:00 +0000

Long-time Las Vegas animal rescuer Bobbi Klocker has told me on more than one occasion, that it's very important to ensure that we treat all of the cats with compassion and respect. It seemed too obvious to me to even need to be stated, but that was before I saw first hand how some people (even experienced trappers!) handle cats. The following are what I consider to be "best practices" for trapping and handling community cats with the compassion and respect they deserve!

ALWAYS HANDLE TRAPS WITH CATS GENTLY, AS THOUGH THEY CONTAIN, LIVING, FEELING, BREATHING BEINGS INSIDE.

If your handling a dozen traps (or in some cases 30 or 40), it's easy to start feeling like your hauling around a bunch of cargo. Guess what? Even if you have to load or unload 100, they should still be treated with the same respect you show your owned pet. Would you want your owned pets slammed around in trap because the folks handling him/her were too busy or lazy to treat the traps with care? As we ramp up and do more of these larger trapping projects, it is very important to maintain quality, and to ensure that we are treating animals with care and respect. If you follow this one rule, the rest of these should be common sense!

A PROPER TRAP COVER MEASURES 3' x 5'. ALWAYS HAVE A CORRECTLY SIZED COVER AVAILABLE SO YOU CAN IMMEDIATELY COVER THE TRAP.

The first time I returned traps to Keith, he berated me for my funky trap covers. Some of them were pillow cases which had been cut down one seam to form a crude tent which did not adequately cover the trap. "A proper trap cover is 3' X 5,'" he said. The importance of a proper trap cover cannot be overstated. If the cover is too large, it becomes a hindrance, catching on other traps or in the wheels of the clinic carts. Worse yet, if the cover is too small, it will fail to accomplish it's primary purpose, calming the cat! Our trap bank policy is to always issue a trap with a "proper" trap already inside. Make sure that you have that cover available and that you use it!

NEVER LEAVE A TRAP ARMED AND UNATTENDED!

I once set a trap near a plant nursery in a secure enough location that it could be left for short periods of time. When I returned to check the trap, I discovered a pissed-off, soaking wet, six-week old kitten. A nearby sprinkler had drenched him, the newspaper liner and the trap cover. We moved him into a dry trap with a towel and got him inside a vehicle and he was fine. But what if I had left that trap out for hours at a time, or worse yet, overnight? Once a cat become caught in your trap, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS SAFETY! If you cannot guarantee that someone will not be able to tamper with a trapped cat, or other harm will not befall the cat you shouldn't leave a trap armed and unattended.

NEVER OPEN A TRAP WITH A CONSCIOUS, ALERT CAT UNLESS YOU ARE INDOORS!

If the cat does make it out of the trap, it will be possible to use a noose pole or net to get control of it and get it back into the trap. Having a cat escape from a trap while it's outdoors is a disaster. If you and the cat are lucky, you are still at the cat's colony and you are simply left with cat who will never go near a trap again. If you and the cat are unlucky, you're halfway across the city when he escapes. Now you have an unfixed cat in unfamiliar territory who will never go near a trap again! To avoid this particular mistake, ensure that you are indoors when opening traps for any reason!

NEVER LET A CAT OUT OF THE TRAP WHEN IT EVENTUALLY HAS TO GO BACK INSIDE IT!

To minimize the stress on the animals, and maximize the safety of all humans and cats involved, cats should stay in the traps at all times before and after surgery. Moving cats into a larger container may seem the humane thing to do, but cats feel secure in small enclosed spaces. Forcing them from a trap to a carrier, kennel or other container is bound to cause the animal more stress. It also increases the risk of the cat escaping (how stressful will it be to recapture it?), scratching or biting someone, or being injured. If you have to hold a feral cat for an extended period of time, place the trap inside of a larger kennel. This gives the cat a place to retreat to when you need to feed/water/change paper. You can safely open and close the guillotine door with a stick through the kennel bars. Otherwise, do the cats and yourself a favor and leave them in the trap!

PROVIDE THE CAT WITH THE MOST COMFORTABLE CONDITIONS POSSIBLE WHILE IN THE TRAP!

Pre-surgery, these hardy animals can take a lot. Used to living outside, they will be okay in most circumstances, except for what should be glaring obvious examples. Don't leave the cats exposed to direct sun for an excessive amount of time. Even on nice days here it often becomes quite hot in the direct sunlight. A sealed vehicle interior will heat even faster. If you must transport traps in a pickup truck, especially in cooler weather, make sure the traps are covered in a way so that they are protected from the 40, 50, 60 or even 70 MPH winds generated by driving! Also, make sure your load is secure so that traps cannot fall over during transport. A Tru Catch trap that turns upside down will open!

Post surgery, the anesthesia affects a cat's ability to regulate it's temperature so they must be maintained in an area that will not have temperature extremes. Change newspaper, feed and water twice a day. The cats pictured below are staged in Keith's garage. The traps rest on 2" x 4"'s which allow waste to drop down to the puppy pads below.

To provide yourself with the most comfortable conditions possible, elevate the traps to avoid having to kneel down to access the traps. Pictured below is a plastic topped folding table. Three large 24" x 30" puppy pads will cover this table completely. The metal poles serve the same purpose as the 2" x 4"'s in the previous picture.

AVOID USING HAVAHART, TOMAHAWK AND OTHER SPRING-POWERED TRAPS.

Tru-Catch and other gravity powered traps depend on the weight of the door to operate. The chances of one of these doors harming a cat while closing, even a small kitten is minuscule. Spring powered traps depend on the energy stored by pushing the door into its open position, which compresses the spring. Cats have been found with tails and bodies crushed by the force of the door closing. Other cats have managed to wedge between the doors and the trap, either escaping out of the trap entirely, or choking to death because their bodies remain in the trap. Some models of these traps do not have guillotine doors making it difficult for clinic workers to transfer cats in or out. Others have a trap door made from a solid metal plate. These doors do no allow you to observe the cat, before you open the trap door, making it difficult to observe the cat while the trap is covered. In both cases, these traps make staging and convalescing cats more difficult. Finally, the standardized size of the Tru-Catch traps allows more traps to fit into a smaller space more efficiently.

Mimi...The One That Got Away

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:35:00 +0000

Mimi lives in a pretty rough section of town. Yvonne's been caring for Mimi ever since her original benefactor was driven from the area by thug neighbors. Braving threats from free-roaming dogs, angry neighbors, and panhandlers, Yvonne has been supplying food for Mimi for many months since her original caretaker moved. Fearing for Mimi's safety and her own, Yvonne decided to retrap Mimi and provide her with a permanent home off of the streets. Retrapping cats is often difficult and Mimi, was not an exception . Mimi scoffed at conventional traps, and a failed attempt to secure her with a net had left her weary of being approached one.

Yvonne contacted me in Sep. to see if we could catch her with the drop trap. We went out and I set up the drop trap and moved about 50 feet away. The string went around a small bit of sage brush. In what turned out to be a fateful and humongous rookie error, I failed to clear the string before she moved over to the trap. Immediately she showed interest and barely entered the trap. Sure that she would move to the back of the trap, I waited. She moved forward into the trap, and, as though she suddenly realized what it was she froze and started to turn. Had the string been running straight, I would have immediately sprung the trap because I could see she was going to move, but I hesitated, and in that instance she left the trap.

I fixed the string and we waited to no avail. On Saturdays, the mission down the street serves breakfast. Hundreds of free-roaming humans passed by making it impossible to get her. A four or five month old kitten continually poked its head out from a sewer grate across the street. I moved the drop trap and impressed the homeless crowd by bagging the kitten after only a minute or two. The next morning we returned even earlier to avoid the crowds. A skinny woman came walking down the street.Noticing the drop trap she started moving towards it. I jumped out of my truck and started into my spiel about trapping the cat so it could go live with Yvonne.

er sunken eyes grew as wide as saucers and she shrieked, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE CAT!" I realized that she was as high as a kite. The absurdity of trying to catch a feral cat at 4:00 AM in the middle of the hood sunk in and I burst out laughing. Horrified the woman quickly moved off, muttering and cursing.

Mimi studiously ignored the drop trap for over an hour. Another small black cat appeared and entered the trap. I decided to let it eat so that trapping it would not scare Mimi. Mistake #1 for the day. A larger black cat appeared and chased the smaller cat out. The larger black cat proceeded to eat all of the food in the trap and was in no hurry to get out of it. I finally ended up shooing him out of the trap! DOH! Mistake #2 for the day. Another hour passed and Mimi was clearly never going to enter the drop trap. Instead of having two black cats to NR, I was empty-handed, skunked! GRRRRR!!

Two mornings later we returned and Mimi still ignored the trap. I managed to catch the larger black cat who we had neutered and eventually returned. On yet another morning, we tried again while Mimi again ignored the drop trap. She was too well fed to fall for our shenanigans. We finally deemed that we needed to hatch a new plan. Nothing much happened for a couple of months. I couldn't drive by the area without cruising by to see if she was still there, sitting in the sage brush, and she usually was.

This week Yvonne called me and left a panicked message. She had found the carcass of the large black that cat we had TNR'd in Sep. The local thugs were allowing their dogs to roam unleashed and this one had fallen victim. The next morning I met her near the area and laid out the plan: I would go alone and set the drop trap and move off a good distance and wait in the truck. Yvonne would come 15 minutes later and place the bait into the trap, calling Mimi and making a big fuss.

I pulled up and unloaded the trap. Mimi was there, and she watched me intently, obviously waiting for a meal. I moved off about 150 feet away where I had a clear view of the trap. Eying the dangling pigeon feather in the trap, Mimi moved towards it. She sat right outside of it and regarded it curiously. A guy came walking down the street, spooking her away from the trap. GRRRR, I thought, "Here we go again!"

Yvonne arrived, and instead of ignoring me and proceeding to the trap as I had expected, she parked behind me and walked up to the truck. I told her to pull up like she normally does and place the bait in the trap. She pulled up, and proceeded to park right in my line of sight so I could no longer see the drop trap! I got out of the truck and watched her bait the trap and attempt to lure Mimi to the trap. After several minutes Yvonne came back to me.Yvonne was short on time and had to leave for an appointment. I had little hope of our plan working. I told her to leave and I would watch the trap and see what happens. She continued to talk and I watched as Mimi moved towards the trap. She ducked her head under and regarded the foil bowl filled with turkey meat and tuna. I held my breath as she moved towards the food and then immediately sprung the trap when she was in position!

Serita and Yvonne were relieved because we now had Mimi safe. I was relieved because I had finally recovered from the initial mistake. People like Serita and Yvonne and have big hearts and I enjoy helping people like them and cats like Mimi when I can. I also really like getting the "one that got away"!

Pueblo Park in Summerlin

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:49:00 +0000

We recently trapped 20 cats in Pueblo Park from Dec. 1-3. Sixteen were neutered, all were ear tipped, and released back to the park. With the permission of Summerlin Council, caretaker Linda Akhuna has been braving the rugged terrain daily to provide food and water for the Pueblo Park community cats.

Akvhuna and the other caretakers wanted to TNR more of the cats in the park. Without the resources and knowledge to perform a mass trapping, their previous attempts were not that productive. C5 volunteers worked with another local animal welfare group to bring in traps, secure spay/neuter slots, and assist with transportation and staging.

Conditions were difficult for trapping. Much of the terrain where traps needed to be placed was in a wash and rugged. The first night, the trapping began too late and we had very little success, trapping only two. The next evening we returned earlier and managed to trap fourteen.We returned on the third successive evening targeting the remaining 10 holdouts in that section of the park. We caught four including "Scrapper" one of the parks main Patriarchs.

Akhuna, and other caretakers worked hard this year to help socialize and adopt out many of the cats from the park. At one point this year, they estimate that there were over 60 cats living in the park. After adoptions and some attrition, the various colonies now total around 33 cats. With 20 out of 26 in one section, having been neutered for sure, Akhuna and the other caretakers are well on their way to supporting our ultimate goal: less kittens in the spring!

Community Cat Coalition of Clark County

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:46:00 +0000

The Community Cat Coalition of Clark County (C5) is a newly formed all-volunteer non-profit whose mission is to reduce the number of healthy cats euthanized in local shelters through public outreach and education and by managing community cat colonies with Trap Neuter Return (TNR). C5 seeks to differentiate itself from other local animal rescue organizations by doing TNR and public education exclusively. C5 will not act as a foster, adoption or rescue agency for cats. These types of programs are money and labor intensive, a drain on limited resources and many exist in the valley already.

C5 is focused primarily on building a community-based TNR program where caretakers, homeowners, business owners etc. participate in managing community cats at their locations. We now have a 125 traps in our trap bank that are available for loan without a deposit and offer classes TNR classes every two weeks. C5 also matches caretakers with low or no-cost spay neuter resources. Assistance with mentoring, staging and transportation of trapped cats is also available on a limited basis. C5 provides expert trapping services for those who are unable to trap for themselves, or in those cases when a very large number of cats need to be trapped in a single location. We also provide expert trapping services for the most difficult to catch holdouts or for those who prefer to pay a trapper to perform the TNR work for them.

C5 is working closely with the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society and Heaven Can Wait Society to coordinate and concentrate TNR efforts in the valley. In Oct. we worked together trap and neuter 140 free-roaming cats in a single 35-acre neighborhood over three days in the largest single TNR of free-roaming cats ever done in the valley. Last month, C5 volunteers and the monks at the Thai Buddhist temple successfully TNR'd 57 cats. Cats and monks will both be happier when there are no kittens in the spring! Future mass trapping events are being planned to take advantage of the economy of scale provided by bringing a lot of traps and trappers into a concentrated area.

The core group that forms C5's current officers started working together in summer of 2009 to help support Keith Williams in his role the Clark County Feral Central Sponsor. Mr. William's is a county appointed volunteer whose role is to act as a buffer between animal control and the community cat caretakers. He will not provide their information to animal control and acts to try to resolve disputes between parties. Registering as caretakers and registering their colonies provides certain protections for both animals and caretakers.

For more information about the Feral Cat Colony ordinance, visit http://www.clarkcountyferalcats.org

Upcoming TNR classes will be on Dec 19th at the Winchester Recreation Center and on Jan 9th at Heaven Cant Wait Society's spay/neuter clinic on 547 N. Eastern from 12:30 -2:30 PM. Email TNRClass@gmail.com to register.

To Catch a Thief!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:25:00 +0000

On Thu, Aug 21 I saw Adrienne at the NSPCA. Adrienne is a long-time rescuer of dogs. It doesn't seem like even a week goes by before she has brought in some stray dog that was wandering around. She knew that I had recently started trapping cats and asked me if I would be willing to help her with a dog. She explained the situation, and I readily agreed.

Baron Mining

Some miners were working a claim in Jean, NV. Their camp was located close to the airport. A dog had been coming around and they had been feeding it. They had reached the point where they could feed her by hand, but they hadn't been able to safely catch her. Their claim expired and they had to leave. Adrienne's friend Joe had been going out there to provide her food and water, but no one had been out there since Sun! Being familiar with the area I told her I would head out and see if I could get a picture or at least confirm that she was still around.

I collected up the stuff I needed and by the time I got out there it was almost noon. The sun beat down oppressively and even the hardiest of Mojave's daytime inhabitants, the White-Tailed Antelope Squirrels were laying low. Just south of the airport a sign reading "Baron Mining and Assaying". The abandoned site looked desolate an uninviting consisting of little more than a concrete building pad, an electrical pole with a transformer and steel pole for a satellite dish. A hose bib stuck out of the ground promising life giving water, but the open tap was as dry as the sand underfoot.

Camp Site

I filled a bowl with dry food and topped it with a can of wet food. I filled the small water bowl that I had brought and immediately wished I had thought to bring a bucket, it was so hot! I poked around and found a promising set of tracks. Too large to be a coyote, they definitely belonged to a medium-sized canid, in the range of what Adrienne had described, 40- 50 lbs.

Old Track

I snapped some photos and then drove down a dirt road to the berm that supports the railroad tracks. Passing through that berm are several tunnels to allow water and vehicles to pass under the tracks. It looked like an ideal location to shelter from the sun. Unfortunately, I didn't see any other sign of her.

On Sat morning, I returned early and discovered all of the food was gone. I replaced the water bowl with a 3 gallon bucket and filled it to the brim. I filled up the food bowl and as I did, I had the distinct feeling that she was close by, watching me. I made a big show putting the food out, whistling and calling out. When I got back in the car, I headed down the road about 3/4 of a mile away before stopping. I got out my 20X spotting scope and steadied it on the the open car door. The place where I had stopped was slightly higher than the camp site and I had an excellent unobstructed view of the food bowl.

Fresh Track

She was eating from the bowl and occasionally glancing in my direction. She looked like a Siberian Husky. In the first of many bad decisions, I decided to try to drive closer so I could get a good photo. Without a decent lens, this proved to be fruitless. In the faint pre-dawn light, she was just a set of blurry pixels amidst a larger set of blurry pixels! My approach in the vehicle spooked her and she moved off rapidly to the south. I watched her for as long as I could through the scope and noted the position where I lost site of her.

In my second bad decision before even eating breakfast, I decided to follow her tracks to see if I could figure out where she held up during the day. There had been a tiny amount of rain the night before and a light breeze had created perfect conditions for tracking. Even though it was overcast and the lighting was poor, the ground conditions made it easy for me to follow her tracks. I did so for nearly a mile until I reached a point were a small wash intersected with a cattle fence. Clearly she was using this spot to cross the fence. The wash led to a tunnel that passed underneath the interstate, but it was choked with tumbleweeds and looked impassable. At this point I lost the track so I headed back to the car and called Adrienne to tell her what I had seen.

The next morning I returned with the "Stealth Cam" which is basically a camera with an IR sensor that triggers whenever something passes in front of it. I attached it to the Satellite dish pole but had to move the food to a new location so the stealth cam could have the sun behind it. I tested out the stealth cam and when I was satisfied that it was covering the area with the food bowl, I turned it on. I set my digital camera up on cinderblock pointing at the food from another direction. I started that camera recording video and then got into the car and drove off. I kept looking back at the site but I never caught a glimpse of her.

I returned and saw that the food was sitting there, untouched. The stealth cam was still pointing and it triggered when I approached the food bowl. My digital camera on the other had was gone. Two clear paw prints showed where she had walked up to it. I followed her steps and about 30 feet away, the camera was laying in the dirt, still recording. I picked it up and it was still wet with her saliva. Curious, I stopped the recording, (I wish I had kept filming and captured the distance from the cinderblock!) and reviewed the video. I fast forwarded until 8:26 seconds into the shot, the camera shakes and then you can clearly see her white legs as she walks with it in her mouth!

Shocked at her wiliness I packed up and made yet another mistake by leaving the food for her. The next day I came back with three cameras and set them up to capture her approach from any angle. Full satiated from a big meal the day before, she foiled my simple plan by completely ignoring the food. I packed up again, but this time I took the food with me leaving the bucket filled to the brim with water. I waited a couple of days, and then returned before dawn. As I approached the site with my windows rolled down, I heard barking. I pulled over and got out my camera to catch the sound. As soon as I started recording, the barking stopped.

I pulled into the site and started setting up the stealth cam. I turned around and nearly had a heart attack. She was standing a 100' away staring at me! I moved away from the food bowl and she moved in to eat, obviously quite hungry. I watched her eat, talking to her in soothing tones while I called Adrienne to tell her of my successful contact. It had taken a week and four trips out here to confirm her presence, but here she was! Clearly she was a Siberian Husky. A little on the skinny side, but not horrible looking for an animal living out in the desert. A black nylon collar was around her neck. I couldn't see any tags, but surely she had been someone's dog at some point! I shot some video and snapped a couple of crappy photographs. When she'd finished her meal, she moved off a little ways and laid down. I talked to her a bit more and then rang up Adrian excitedly.

Adrienne, Pam and I came up with a plan to trap her on Saturday morning. We agreed to meet at the NSPCA shelter at 5:45 AM. Adrienne brought ground beef and grease she had secured from KFC. Pam brought Nancy's trap. We headed out and about a half mile from the site stopped so that Pam could wait with Adrienne while I baited the trap. As I pulled away, the MP3 player in my TomTom selected Chumbawumba's "I get knocked down". Feeling that this song was appropriate for the light-hearted excitement I was feeling right now I turned it up loud and the sound was blasting out my windows as I pulled into the camp.

I wrestled the trap out of my car and set it up near where I had been placing the food bowl. I had doubts that she would simply walk into the trap since she had proven to be so clever already. I put the ground beef into the bowl and topped it with some KFC grease. I was in the process of fussing with a towel, trying to cover the trap bottom, when I noticed her standing only 20' away. The look on her face was clear, "What's taking you so long? I WANT THAT FOOD!"

I stopped messing with the towel and moved away from the trap, retreating to the car. Without hesitation, she walked into the trap and put her face down to the bowl. For a brief instant, the trap did not trigger and I started to utter,"Ah crap" but then the door fell shut. She panicked briefly, but as soon as she saw that she could not get out, she went back to eating the ground beef!

I called Adreinne and told her that I had her. I approached the trap with my camera and she was visibly shaking. When Pam came up she had already started to relax a little. We moved her into the back of Adrienne's Explorer and spent 30 or 45 minutes snacking on fruit and tea cookies that she had so generously brought. It's the great thing about Adrienne, the treats are always so good! By the time we were leaving the dog was clearly quite relaxed.

Captured!

Pam transported her to a local vet where she was vaccinated, spayed etc. There was no tag or microchip so I assume that she was dumped out there. To me it's the perfect place. Right next to the interstate, off of a exit with minimal traffic. I had hoped that she would have a chip and that we would find the owner, a truly happy ending, but this one will do.

Adrienne told me that as the trapper, I had the right to give her a name. She suggested finding the word "thief" in another language. My mind immediately flashed back to a time when we had a disagreement about the fare with a taxi driver in Lop Burii Thailand. As we leaped over a wall to escape from him, he called after us with the Thai word for thief "Khamoi! Khamoi!" I suggested it as a name and she liked it.

Feral or community cat overpopulation, why should you care?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:39:00 +0000

If you see a dog walking down the street without it's owner, you would at least probably notice it. If you are an animal lover or maybe just a concerned citizen, you might stop the car and attempt to secure the dog before it gets hurt. You might also call animal control so that they could attempt to catch the stray dog if you were unable to do it. If you saw a stray cat roaming down your street would attempt to catch it? The realistic answer is absolutely not! You might be more inclined to leave it some food! You are also highly unlikely to call animal control unless the feline is yowling in your backyard at night, pooping in your rose bushes, or spraying all over your back door! Or worse yet, having kittens underneath your shed or in your attic, or inside a an infrequently used vehicle, etc.

Love them or hate them, community cats are not simply going to go away. Las Vegas is at the nexus of a perfect storm for feline overpopulation. We have a highly transient population that lives a very disposable lifestyle. Our weather conditions allow female cats to have as many as four litters per year. Multiple plentiful food sources for cats exist which can never be completely eliminated. Very few if any predators control cat populations in urban areas.

Cats are so disposable here, that an owned cat, has less than a 3% chance of being recovered by it's owner if it ends up at a shelter. Last year the over 18,000 cats were euthanized which works out to 50 cats a day, every single day of the year! As frightening as the intake and euthanasia numbers for Clark County are, the more frightening fact is that they've been growing by 10% a year for a number of years!

It's estimated that some 200-500,000 community cats exist in the Vegas Valley. Some believe there could actually be closer to 750,000! As long as there are so many community cats, it wouldn't matter if we had 100% spay/neuter rate amongst owned cats. A percentage of kittens from unspayed mom's is always going to find it's way into rescue and adoption groups. Many of those that end up in shelters become fodder for the needle.

The numbers of community cats are so large, we will never be able to either rescue nor euthanize our way out of this problem. The community cats need to be managed, which means in a nutshell: counting them, fixing them, and monitoring them afterwards. If you feed community cats outside, register as a feral colony caretaker with the Central Sponsor at http://www.clarkcountyferalcats.org. The Central Sponsor will not share your information with animal control. Ear tipped cats belonging to a registered colony have some protections under the 10.06 ordinance. If they are trapped by a citizen and end up at the county shelter, the Central Sponsor is contacted. If the cat can be matched to a colony/caretaker where it was trapped, it will be released back to the caretaker for $17 (the cost of a microchipping and vaccination update) to be returned to its colony. Need help managing your colony? We offer training classes in TNR, loan traps, and help connect caretakers with low-cost or grant funded spay/neuter slots. We are also working on ways to provide caretakers with food at considerable cost savings!

What other ways can you help? Spay/neuter all owned pets. Register your owned cats and dogs with the county. Registrations allow them to collect better information on pet ownership in the county. If you are registering a new car, get "Animal Appreciation" license plates. The money collected from pet registrations and spay/neuter license plates is used to support county spay/neuter programs.

Don't let your cat roam outside, or if you do (in violation of county ordinances) have them microchipped and consider having their ear tipped. If I catch an eartipped cat in a trap, I will release it shortly if not immediately. If there is no tipped ear, the cat is at best getting a couple of days cooling out in a trap and a ride to the clinic, and at worst, anesthesia and surgery to discover it's already been neutered! If you're pissed off neighbor traps your cat, they could end up at the county animal shelter. If your cat does disappear, check the shelter to see if it's there! They are only required to keep you cat for 72-hours so time is of the essence if your cat gets taken to the shelter as a stray.

Consider donating money or volunteering for an organization that helps community or feral cats, or supports spay/neuter programs. As I stated before, we will never euthanize or adopt our way out of the community cat overpopulation problem. Let's manage them through Trap Neuter Return (TNR) which has proven to be effective in so many communities.

Sleepy Gets Wrangled

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:24:00 +0000

When I decided to start trapping feral cats, I quickly stumbled upon the passionate ravings of drop trap enthusiasts. I was intrigued by the idea of trapping with a device like this, because their supporters claimed they were so effective. Every place that claimed to produce them commercially was out of stock or back ordered! I found a relatively simple design here, and basically copied it. The drop trap I produced was sturdy and functional, but as of yet untested.

I was poking around a feeding station at a colony where we were preparing to trap when I met Greg. He demanded to know what I was doing as he had previously seen attempts at poisoning the cats with antifreeze at a nearby location. When I told him I was scouting the area in preparation for TNR, he quickly warmed up. I found out that Greg was sick with lung cancer. In another six weeks he would need to go to Tuscon for several weeks of treatment. One of the cats he feeds, "Sleepy" was neutered long ago, but Greg wanted to catch him so he could be moved to a cat sanctuary. Greg had been caring for Sleepy since 2001, and he was worried about his long-term prospects living in the wash. Sleepy had foiled repeated attempts to catch him using standard traps. Having been trapped before, he would not go in one again. I told Greg about my drop trap and we decided to give it a shot.

On a Tuesday night, Greg, Joe from SOS and I assembled near Sleepy's hangout. Armed with walkie-talkies and a couple hundred feet of pull cord, we setup the drop trap near his feeding spot on a flat piece of ground. Greg was concerned that Sleepy might not climb up the six feet to go to the drop trap but I assured him it would be OK. We baited it with some yummy human tuna and took our positions. Joe and Greg moved further up the wash where they could observe Sleepy and the drop trap from a distance. I moved down the wash and descended into to it so I could move to a place where Sleepy could no longer see that I was there.
In less than a minute, Joe radioed me that Sleepy was in the trap. Heart racing, I poked my head up ever so slowly so that I could verify that he was in a good position. Satisfied that he was completely underneath the trap, I pulled the rope connected to the stick that was propping up the trap. Weather stripping dampened the sound of the drop trap falling, but the prop stick made and extremely loud noise! Sleepy's buddy went bounding up the wash in alarm! I felt a surge of adrenaline race through me as I scrambled up the wash to get to the trap.

Feral cats go wild when confined and it's important to immediately cover them so they calm down. Being somewhat tame, Sleepy was rather non-plussed at being confined by the trap. He absolutely refused to exit the drop trap into the transfer trap. Recognizing the trap from being confined when he was neutered before, he ignored our repeated attempts at cajoling, pleading, prodding, and poking by steadfastly laying down in the center of the trap. Joe summed up all our feelings succinctly, "If only you knew what trouble three grown men were going through for you on a Tuesday night!"

After nearly an hour we decided to cut a small hole in the drop trap mesh in order to reach into the trap. I had some heavy leather gardening gloves. Joe attempted to prod Sleepy to no avail. I finally took the glove reached through the slit and grabbed all 12 lbs of Sleepy by the scruff like he was my baby kitten. Fortunately, Sleepy was quite friendly and gave in like a kitten. I unceremoniously dragged him into the the transfer trap without him hissing or attempting to bite me etc..

It took anthother two trips to the wash to catch Sleepy's pal but we got him too! The next night we returned to discover a cat that Greg had never seen before had moved right into Sleepy's spot! Talk about the vacuum effect! We returned a third time and spotted Sleepy's pal. I watched with binoculars from across the wash while Joe hid out of site with the string. He watched me warily from across the wash, but since I was so far away, after a couple of minutes he went right into the trap. I used the walkie talkie to tell Joe to pull the stick and we got him!

Both cats were relocated to the Happy Home Animal Sanctuary in Searchlight, NV much to Greg's relief..