Posted 22 April 2011 - 07:07 PM
So, here's a story for Simba.
I recently lost my job. (In a rather fucketty way, methinks.) Anyways, I really didn't know what to do with myself. I kinda went into an isolation/depression kinda thing. I just locked myself in my house and didn't speak to any human for a long time.
I have been unable to find a real job, as of yet, but I have found something to spend my time, energy (and remaining money!) on in the meantime.
The town I live in has a horrible feral cat problem. They breed unchecked on the streets. They are persecuted. They are sickly, starving, run down and poisoned. Most all of my cats came from a horrible life on the streets. Our Humane Society policy is to allow them to breed until the people start to file enough complaints, round them up and kill them. It's always been like this.
So, I have started a TNR program. (Trap/Neuter/Release) I am catching as many of the feral cats as I can, getting them vet care, spayed, neutered, vaccinated, finding homes and/or sanctuaries for as many as I can, and the real wild ones are released where they were, and provided food and care in the wild, where they will no longer reproduce.
I have already gotten over 60 cats off the streets of Yakima, vetted and placed in places where they can forever live their lives in happy, healthy peace. (Do the math. The record number of kittens a cat has had is 420. Each of those can produce dozens, if not hundreds. And so on.........) It makes me feel like I'm making some sort of a positive difference. It's a LOT of work!
Anyways, I have no idea what I'm doing. I hooked up with another lady who has the same goals as me, and we've been kind of fumbling our way through.
Our first batch of cats was a feral colony who had been living in the woods behind an apartment complex for old folks for many years. The old folks have fed them, and loved them and for many of them, the cats have been their only family. One day the complex came under new management. The new manger said that anybody caught feeding a cat would be evicted immediately and that all the cats were to be exterminated. My friend and I went out to trap as many as we could. (It was heart-rending to see the little old ladies crying and pleasing with us to take their favorite cats away.) Not knowing what we were doing, we only got five in two weeks. We got them fixed and vetted and found them a feral cat sanctuary where they will be safe for the rest of their lives.
Well, the whole point of this story is that the very first cat we caught, the one who started it all, was a big male that the old ladies at the complex had named Simba. After all the crap we've gone through with these cats and all the heartaches and disappointments and money, it's Simba that inspired us to keep it up. It's Simba Mulder that I thunk of when I first met him. Maybe it's not cooincidence.........
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