For more than 21 years, Pet Friends has been active in the retrieval, fostering and adoption of healthy companion cats and dogs in San Benito County. To facilitate that mission, Pet Friends opened a low-cost spay and neuter clinic six years ago. In addition to providing an affordable option for companion cats and dogs, the clinic provides a low-cost solution to spay or neuter feral cats, whose population is growing locally.
A feral cat is a domestic cat that has been born in the wild and has had little or no contact with humans and thus, is not socialized. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which has been kept as a pet that was lost or abandoned. Numerous feral cat colonies exist in San Benito County. It can start from an abandoned cat that has a litter outside of a home. The kittens that manage to survive grow and can procreate and multiply at an alarming rate — thus begins a feral cat colony. Without intervention, advocates say these colonies can grow out of control.
Pet Friends recognizes this problem and has established a trap, neuter and release program to curb the issue.
Two volunteers in San Juan Bautista that have been trying to tackle this problem on their own, though they are hoping to get some help. Erik and Marina Gordon have partnered to help contain the feral cat population in the City of History.
“My wife and I do this because we are big animal lovers and hate to see any animal suffer in any way,” said Erik. “It also provides us a sense of fulfillment knowing that we are helping animals that can’t help themselves and would otherwise have a lower quality of life and possibly suffer from disease and death.”
The growing feral cat population causes a burden on cities and counties, he said, because feral cats can intermingle with domestic cats and fight, reproduce and transmit diseases. The trap, neuter and release program improves the cats’ lives “by not allowing them to reproduce — therefore not having to compete for food — and having them immunized against disease so they can hopefully live a longer healthier life in their semi-wild/feral environment.”
Erik and Marina also foster young kittens until they animals are old enough to be spayed or neutered and then put up for adoption.
San Juan Bautista is just one of many areas seeing feral cat colonies grow, and it is a San Benito County problem. Pet Friends is taking applications for dedicated volunteers throughout the county to target feral colonies. If needed, training will be provided.
“We would hope that some members of the community would like to donate their time to help trap feral cats and have them spayed or neutered so they can’t reproduce,” Erik said. “The problem is a big one in almost every city in America but is a real problem in San Juan Bautista.” The couple said that despite their efforts over the past few years, overpopulation of feral cats continues to be a problem.
“Now that we can trap every week and work with Pet Friends, I think we can start to reverse the overpopulation of feral cats in town with the help of some other volunteers,” Erik said. “Many people we meet understand there is a very real feral cat problem in town but they don’t know where to start.” The trap, neuter and release program “is a great way to donate a small percentage of your time, give back to the community, and help animals.”
Contact Pet Friends at 831-634-1191 or go to www.petfriends.org for more information.
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