In March, Wild Blue Animal Rescue and Sanctuary received a $4,000 grant from Best Friends Animal Society to conduct another feral cat Trap-Neuter-Return operation theyíve named ìThe Fix Is On.î The efforts will focus on six zip codes outside the Colorado Springs city limits, including the Black Forest and Falcon area. The six-month program aims to spay or neuter about 600 feral cats in those areas, said Lauri Cross, executive director.In an effort to reduce the feral cat population, animal organizations have been involved for years in what is referred to as Trap-Neuter-Return (or release) operations. Wild Blue has set up its own program to address the issue ñ the Frontier Ferals program, which is conducted several times a year, Cross said.A feral cat differs from a stray cat. ìA stray is a cat who is socialized to people but for one reason or another is out on its own and homeless,î she said. ìA feral cat is also out there but it is not socialized to people. It is fearful of people and will hiss and scratch at them. A stray may have been dumped, but can be handled; feral cats typically wonít let you near them.îCross said people dumping unwanted and unaltered (not spayed or neutered) cats is how the feral cat problem arose. ìThey dump their unaltered cat out there and it gets another cat pregnant or gets pregnant itself, and the babies are born out there in the wild and are never touched by a person,î she said.Gretchen Pressley, communications specialist with the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, said feral cats are often seen in groups called colonies. With the help of people in the neighborhoods, the colonies are registered with the HSPPR so the cats can be captured, spayed or neutered, then returned to where they were found.ìCurrently, we have 351 active cat colonies in Colorado Springs and Pueblo,î Pressley said. The HSPPR has had a TNR program since 2009 and has seen 3,000 fewer stray cats brought in since then, but there is no guarantee the program has been the leading cause of the decrease, she said.Since cats can have multiple litters in a year, and those babies grow up and have their own litters; the problem quickly gets out of hand, Cross said. ìThatís where we get involved,î she said. ìWe take the cats, fix them and put them back out there. People usually donít want them back on their property again, but they have nowhere else to go. We put them back where they are most comfortable.îLiz Gordon, a member of the Aiken Audubon Society in Colorado Springs, said feral cats have been proven to have shorter lives, and they also have a devastating effect on the bird, snake and lizard populations. ìThey hunt not always just for hunger,î she said. ìThey like to play with stuff. Theyíre an invasively introduced creature in these habitats, which makes them a problem in the first place. They overtake everything. Thereís just not been enough time for the things that theyíre preying on to adapt fast enough.îCross said the program actually helps prevent some of the catsí natural hunting instincts because people are looking out for the cat colonies. Called ìcolony managers,î they feed the cats. ìIf you feed the cats, they will eat,î she said. ìIf you satisfy their needs, they wonít have the same level of need to hunt and find the animals and eat them. Theyíll eat them if they present themselves because theyíre cats.îBoth Pressley and Cross said they advocate for colony managers to feed and shelter the cats. ìA fixed feral cat on their property will keep other cats away and eventually die,î Cross said.She said Wild Blue gets food donated from The Rescue Bank, and Pressley said the HSPPR provides food for their colony managers.Cross said the shelters provided for the cats keep them from roaming as much, plus they have protection from predators, making their quality of life as good as possible. ìThe shelters are basically just made out of scrap wood with a roof on a hinge, so you can put hay or something in there,î she said.ìThere are those people who will say that it (the TNR process) doesnít work but the research is showing that it does work and is the most humane way to treat the problem. Some people say to just exterminate all the cats, but we donít think itís a humane or responsible way to handle it.îCross and Pressley both said their organizations will not euthanize a cat theyíve trapped, unless it is sick or injured and beyond help.Occasionally, a cat will be trapped that isnít feral but rather a pet thatís been wandering around on someoneís property, Cross said. ìWe tell people if weíre trapping on their property to keep their cats someplace else so we donít waste time and resources,î she said. ìBut if we do trap them, we just let them loose. Itís pretty obvious what is a feral cat and what isnít.îìWe like to call it the Trap-Neuter-Abandon program,î Gordon said.î Theyíre not really just releasing them; the cats are domestic animals that are being abandoned. If someone had all these cats inside, they would be considered hoarders, but itís OK to do it outside?îPressley disagrees. The cats arenít domesticated. ìIn a perfect world, we would take each cat in and adopt them out,î she said. ìBut they are a part of the wild, and they donít want to be in your home since theyíre feral.ìTNR is the only proven way to not only reduce the number of cats on the streets and cats coming into HSPPR, but also cut down on unwanted cat behaviors such as spraying and yowling during mating season.îìThe bottom line is that TNR does work and has been shown to work,î Cross said. ìFor those of us in the rescue community trying to help our country become a no-kill country, TNR is a must.î
