Are feral cats being given a new chance for quality life while remaining in the wild? According to an article written by Ashley Bachelor for the “Daily Times” they most certainly are! A Texas program called “Big Fix Project for Homeless Cats” employs a unique trap-neuter-return system that maintains the dignity and primal state of the feral cat. Founded in 2005, it has the help and support of Alley Cats Allies, a non-profit web site offering information on stray and feral cats and advocating trapping and neutering as a humane way to reduce the feral cat population. According to the coordinator of the project, Pamela Warner, in the long run, this system will save money.” Already, almost 170 cats in Kerrville, Texas, have been altered and returned to the wild.
The trapping and neutering system is nothing new per se, and has been done throughout the country, but this project is specifically the only one known to advocate neutering instead of killing. Their headquarters are located the Freeman-Fritts Animal Shelter and Veterinary Clinic. Other local Texas clinics have also joined in to be a part of this very noble cause. According once again to Warner, “the trap and kill method does not reduce numbers. Once the cats are killed, more cats come into the area. They breed within their colony and four cats turn into sixteen cats. Trapping and neutering is a different form of rescue because it stops the cats from ever being born.”
The Big Fix Project runs solely on donations and the staff is composed of volunteers. More than $7,000 has been raised from community members to support this worthwhile project. Isn’t it time we all followed Texas’s lead and set up something like this for our own communities? How could it not make a difference in the quality of the lives of these neglected cats that have no one to speak or care for them?
Please open YOUR hearts and think about this.
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