A group of Oil City residents met Thursday to address a community problem of a different sort – too many feral cats.
“This is a grassroots effort to trap and neuter these cats to stop the reproduction cycle,” said Theresa Weldon, president of the Franklin-based Precious Paws Animal Rescue organization. “There are cat colonies throughout the city and we need to help reduce those.”
Weldon met with several city residents at an impromptu meeting in the Oil City Library. It was prompted by concerns voiced by JoAnn Chelton, a city native and pet owner, who said that she has “three litters of kitties” behind her home on the city’s South Side.
Priority: spay and neuter
Precious Paws offers a spay and neuter program, one that can include feral cats.
“A cat can have a litter every four months,” said Weldon. “Our goal is to control and manage cats and not harm them. The rate of reproduction is so high that the only way to solve this is by spaying and neutering and releasing.”
One local resident insisted that while that step would help in reducing the feral cat population, she preferred that they be removed from the premises rather than be released back into a neighborhood.
“I understand that many feel they should be removed,” said Weldon. “But trapping, neutering and returning them stabilizes the population. You can co-habitate with them until, by attrition, and no new kitties, they’re gone. Seven years is the average age for a feral cat. But until you get that population under control, you can’t fix this.”
Precious Paws offers a spaying and neutering service for feral cats that are caught in a humane and non-harmful trap, but resources are limited, said Weldon. The cost ranges from $45 to $65, a fee that Weldon said is financially difficult for some people to pay.
“We’re trying to get a grant to keep doing this and do more,” she said. “We also vaccinate and inoculate.”
How to trap a feral cat and transfer it to Precious Paws on Atlantic Avenue in Franklin also poses problems, said one pet owner who has feral cats living beneath her porch.
“I want to help with these cats but I can’t go out and trap them,” she said. “What if I get a raccoon or a skunk or someone’s pet in it?”
Weldon and Chelton both quickly agreed that Precious Paws volunteers and others would help with baiting cages as well as animal removal.
“There was a woman feeding cats at a local church and … we worked with a priest there who talked to her about the feral cats,” said Weldon. “We trapped and fixed 41 cats there.”
Another participant told the group she feeds the stray cats “because I can’t bear not to” but worries, too, that the feral cat colony will continue to grow.
“I’m not saying don’t feed them. Just fix them. Here’s the thing – if you want to save a million cats, fix just one and stop the growing number of feral cats,” said Weldon.
Part of Oil City’s issue with an abundance of feral cats are blighted and vacant houses, said Weldon.
At the close of the meeting, Weldon and Chelton made arrangements to provide and set up traps at two feral cat colonies identified by those in attendance. The animals will be neutered or spayed and inoculated at Precious Paws.
Issues to address
In describing their goal to reduce the feral cat population in Oil City as “a community effort,” Weldon said the informal group should eye various fundraising projects to help offset the cost of spaying and neutering.
A dialogue will also be opened with city officials “to see how we can work together and get this done,” she said.
“Education is critical. We need to talk to the cat people, people who are hoarding and feeding cats, so we can make the case of spaying and neutering them. Perhaps we can go with the city code enforcement officer and offer information and help to people so they can have the feral cats fixed,” said Weldon. “Talking to the city is very important because we can help them solve this.”
Chelton said the group would obtain information on where to obtain humane traps, where to set them up, who would step forward as volunteers, and how to raise funds to help pay spay and neuter costs.
“We’ll put together some education materials to offer people who are feeding feral cats, suggest to people how we can help them fix those cats, teach people how to successfully trap the cats, and work with the city to see how we can fix this,” said Weldon.
While another meeting has not yet been set, Chelton said volunteers will work on plans for “getting the word out that we can help, we can be the resource.”
