Hello Feral Friends-
Last night as you know I made my foray into TNR of Friendlies. Where better to find them than Cedar Springs! So off I went to the trailer park, 11 traps, three carriers and lots of stinky food in my feral chariot. Here is how it went down! And nothing about it was good....AT ALL!
Picked up a sweet kitty that I knew from next door to where my cat loving friends lived. I've had my eye on him for a long time and wanted him fixed badly. He came along with no problem as expected. Plan was to fix him and return him on Saturday.
Baited 4 traps and put them out back by the dumpsters.
Drove down a street and found an approximately 3 month old kitten in the street by a car. Got out of car and found another walking toward him. Went and scooped them both up and put them into carriers where they chowed down on stinky soft food!
Drove down another street then doubled back to write down address of where kittens were picked up so I could drop them off after rehab. Spotted by what appeared to be a small lynch mob. People stopped me and I got out of car and tried to explain myself over much accusation and anger from the group.
Woman said that the kittens were hers. Manager accused me of taking cats and charging huge money to give them back. Remember incident 4 months ago where I was booted from park after taking a cat to sanctuary that was actually an owned pet. Maybe not as I don't think I published it on the blog....but many of you know the story. What happened was...I had tried to confirm ownership but park management said it was abandoned. She neglected to check the lease and once in the hands of the sanctuary, it was determined that cat was severely neglected and would not be returned to owner at least not without payment of medical bill that was in excess of $400. So I got a bad name....(which was not my fault) and was no longer allowed on the park property.
You will see the grave consequences of my being kicked out of this park as the story rolls on.
Anyway. I am not doing that well in explaining myself over accusation and hatred so I return kittens to owner, apologize for causing distress and attempt to leave. Manager has me open feral chariot to show other cats inside. There she finds the little guy I had just picked up. I am escorted to this friendly cat's owner to ask permission to take him to get fixed. A dear, sweet girl allows me to take cat after I sign a statement saying that I will NOT charge her anything, will NOT declaw the cat (as if...) and will bring him back as I found him. I do and add an additonal sentence stating that if cat passes away during surgery (which is a risk with all surgery...however slight), that I will bring back body of cat to prove that I'm not stealing it. Sick...but necessary! So she lets me take her sweet boy and I go with manager to pick up my 4 traps set at dumpsters.
But...only find one trap that is sprung with food eaten....but no cat inside. Other three traps have disappeared (better known as stolen). I think I must have some reputation in the hood and someone saw me setting traps and hates what I am doing and took them. I wish they had just smashed them and damaged them vs taking them because now there are three instruments of pure cat torture out in that park that can fall into the wrong hands. So now...I don't get to sleep at night!
At this point, I'm about as close to vomiting at I have ever been, but drive home crying the blues about my night to my friend Gina Marvin of Focus on Ferals who can completely understand my distress better than anyone else on the planet.
So I get home with The little guy, set him up in a comfy, cat nip sprinkled cage in the thankfully cool garage and go to bed.
Wake in the morning to take the cat to Dr. Langlois vs Humane Society as I want him to be feleuk tested just incase the disease has spread to the other side of the park. I got 13 cats out of that park and only two were feline leukemia positive and they were from way on the other side, so I was pretty sure that our dear little guy would be negative.
My worse fears confirmed! He is positive for FELV. And that means that everyone else in that park probably is now too! I really want to swear here, but won't as I do enough of that in speak and I don't need to put my truckdriver mouth into type. So you just fill in the blanks! _ _ _ _!!
So my day today pretty much sucks! I call owner of sweet boy kitty and break news to her. I tell her the prognosis and give her some options which are really NONE besides taking cat back and trying to keep him inside and away from other cats (thankfully she has no other cats) OR euthanize him now vs letting him get sick. Which I don't think is an option at all, but it is...know what I mean. Unfortunately, Big Sids is full and there is not a waiting list. So she and I talk and talk and decide that she will take him back. So the little man will return to his mother who obviously loves him dearly (apparent from her protection of him last night and tears today). And she will do her best to keep him from spreading the deadly disease to other cats in the park.
I have contacted management who will probably not do anything with my offer to do some education in the park regarding felv and the epidemic they have there, but I will continue to hound them till they let me do something!
What a bloody mess. I really couldn't be more tragic.
If only people kept their cats inside. If only people fixed their animals. If only more people than you and I cared. If only....
Thanks for listening to me ramble.
It's very cathartic at least!
Carol
