City working to curb cat population
By GAYLE WEBER
The Animal Health Center in Hays is at capacity for adult cats and kittens. The Humane Society of the High Plains is nearly there as well.
Adopt-a-Cat Month, which began June 1, was started to bring awareness to the problem the Animal Health Center is experiencing.
"We have some cats that have been here for almost two years, so that puts a strain on us," said center veterinarian Jessica Braun.
Braun said she sees anywhere from 10 to 50 stray cats come into her clinic in a given month. The center has a no-kill policy, so the cats they can't adopt out have to be boarded there or shipped to another animal shelter.
However, the Hays Police Department, in cooperation with many vet clinics in town, has started a trap, neuter and return program, which is helping to reduce the number of stray cats causing problems in Hays neighborhoods.
"It's great to push the adoption, but we've got to stop the overpopulation," Braun said.
"There's a public health threat when we've got tons of cats running around without population controls."
Feral cats can carry rabies, ringworm and intestinal parasites, which are all harmful to people.
Animal control officer Pam Jones introduced the trap, neuter and return program. In its first year, it already is seeing results.
"You start slowly working your way around the neighborhoods. Eventually, there are less and less wild, unneutered cats," Jones said.
Animal control works on a complaint-driven basis with the program.
"People don't like their yard smelling like a litter box," Jones said.
After a problem is voiced in a neighborhood, animal control officers work with residents to trap the stray and feral cats causing the problems.
"When someone has been found that tends to leave food out for these feral cats, then they assist us in trapping the cats that frequent the area," said Assistant Police Chief Philip Hartsfield.
Once trapped, healthy cats are neutered or spayed and given a rabies shot. Veterinarians tip their right ears so animal control knows the cat has been through the program. Adults are released back into the neighborhood to control varmints, while kittens are taken to local shelters for adoption.
"The ones that are sick are euthanized because we're not going to spend money on a sick cat," Jones said. The program is saving the city of Hays about $25 per cat from the previous trap-and-kill method, in which all cats were destroyed.
The number of cats impounded by animal control is on the decline. According to Hartsfield, 317 cats were impounded last year, compared to just 57 so far in 2008.
Jones and Hartsfield agreed returning healthy cats to neighborhoods benefits the residents.
"You still have an active wild cat that can do what nature intended," Jones said. "The person that's feeding the cats now has a manageable colony of cats."
Braun said her center is doing what it can to help the problem. During Adopt-a-Cat Month, the Animal Health Center is offering 40 percent off all cat spaying and neutering.
She also is applying for a grant to give low-income families no-cost spaying and neutering of their pets.
The trap, neuter and return program has helped about a dozen Hays neighborhoods with their feral cat problems.
"It takes years. It just doesn't happen all at once," Jones said. "We only have so many traps. We only have so many veterinarians."