Feral colony...would it do more harm than good?

Question

I thought about calling the local news to do a story on a huge feral colony/cat dump my sister found near her house. We went yesterday and managed to catch 4 of the probably 100+ kittens we saw. These are all tiny kittens under 2 months old and I'm sure there are more. I doubt many people know about it since it's way off the beaten path and we could use some help catching them. We have no feral rescues here. I'm afraid also that a news story might call it to the attention of people who would do them harm. They are near impossible to catch with a trap but teens with guns, etc might consider it a "playground". So do you think it's a good or bad idea to call the news?

Answer 1

Calling the news is not a good idea.  Once people know where a feral colony is they think it's a good place to dump cats.  When I've been involved in trapping ferals, we found some of the adults were pets and we had several reports of cats being dumped at one feral colony in the countryside.

You say you don't have any feral rescues there, but have you contacted any of the national organisations dedicated to ferals?  While there might not be a branch there, there might be individuals who are helping with ferals that they can put you in touch with (lots of people working with cats don't publicise their work in case people start dumping cats on them).

In the USA:

http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Pag...

http://www.feralcat.com/

In the UK

http://www.cat77.org.uk/

http://www.catactiontrust.org.uk/

Those links also give advice on what you can do if you find a feral colony.

Answer 2

I'd help-but I just have no idea where all these kittens are. Where are they? I'd love to help. As for the news story- I'd hold off.

Answer 3

I wouldn't recommend it.   It will create a lot of problems.  As you have already guessed the problem of people coming to do the animals harm, but also people seeing it and figuring that is a good place to dump their pets.   It will also likely cause an outcry from some people to get rid of them or "pick them up and adopt them out".  The latter not really  being an option for true ferel cats  unless they are very young kittens such as the ones you got.    

I would recommend trying to contact the closest feral cat rescue  (even it it isn't all that close) and see if they can help you set up a Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR)  for that population.   This is where the cats are humanely trapped, spayed or neutered and if not suitable for adoption (ie not very young kittens or former pets) and have not diseases such as FIV or feline leukiema  then the are release back where they came from or if that is not a safe location for them they find someone to take them as barn cats or a property owner willing to let the colony be relocated there.

Answer 4

ehh I'd avoid it. That may start a snowball affect of people coming in and killing them. Or taking them to the shelters were they'd be killed.

I'd contact some friends and then contact some shelters and see what they can do to help.

I'm a strong believer in TNR, I can't remember if you are or not. But I know some shelters have traps they loan out.

I wouldn't contact the news unless someone came in killing them.

edit:

awww Rocky is so adorable! Are you going to make him a catster page? I miss having kittens. I guess its good, but this is the first year I haven't found one litter. I have kitten fever lol

Answer 5

I share your concerns about going to the news....it could go either way.

I would contact the shelter nearest you, even if it's 100 miles away.  Give them the chance to do something.  Or contact the appropriate governmental agency.  Like in Milwaukee, it would be the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Center.  If you have an equivalent agency......

If you get nowhere then perhaps calling in the news would be the way to go.  I don't know if it would do any good, but perhaps they could be made to agree not to disclose the location in hopes that all the sociopaths of the world won't find them.

Answer 6

i think you might be right, the attention may do more harm than good. i wish there was some other way you could enlist some help..it would be terrible if the media spread the word, and, like you said, they might become targets for hotheads with guns or something. i don't know..if i think of anything i'll edit this ...

Answer 7

I think that it would do beter to get them help. Someone else will eventually find this place and as these cats get older they will reproduce and the cycle will continue until someone takes action.

Answer 8

On one hand, it would be good to raise awareness of the situation about the cat population - but unfortunately I think you're completely right in suspecting it might cause trouble.

Some people are just plain unkind, and some may see the poor cats as a threat. The teens with guns thing is scary - because it's very possible, considering how inconsiderate and cruel people can be, for what they think is 'fun'.

Horrible people may see it as an oppurtunity to do as they wish - since they know these animals arn't pets, so theres not anyone to give them much trouble.

It's such a shame that some people like that exist. People like you and thousands across the globe would love to raise peoples awareness and knowledge, and it would work for many - apart from that horrible, inconsiderate few who could ruin it all.

We're lucky here in the UK. We have more laws protecting animals, even ones who arn't pets. If we had a feral colony here and someone went down with guns and whatnot, the law would come down extremely hard on them, and they would get jail time. I'm not sure what it's like in the USA regarding this, and I think that even the UK could take it more seriously.

Good luck! I hope those feral kitties find a happy life - somehow. Poor babies.