CHARLESTON — Feral cats are a problem in West Virginia and a bill in the state senate may help control the problem.
State Sen. Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, introduced the bill on behalf of Save a Kitty founder Kandi Habeb of Parkersburg. Habeb said the bill would make the Trap, Neuter and Return (TNR) program the legal way to treat feral cats in West Virginia. If the bill passes, the state will try to find money to help fund the program.
“It cost $3 million to house, feed and euthanize these cats” in 2007, Habeb said. “We have more (feral) cats now than we ever did.”
She said locally, there are more feral cats than many people realize. Cats can be seen at night when businesses have closed down. Many area businesses owners have contacted her asking that the cats receive treatment but not be hurt.
Habeb said feral, or non-socialized, cats do not need to be euthanized.
“Removing the cats (to shelters) just allows more cats to come,” she said.
If two cats are not captured and taken to the shelter, the cats can breed thousands of cats.
“TNR has been proven to reduce the cat population,” Habeb said.
The feral cats are captured, spayed or neutered, marked on the ear-tip and released back to the location they were captured, she said. A shelter is constructed for the cats.
The ear-tip is a mark created by cutting off the tip of the left ear while the cat is being spayed or neutered, Habeb said. The flat left ear indicates that the animal has been sterilized and someone is taking care of it.
“We set up colonies for them,” she said. “They become family units.”
Feral cats cannot be adopted because they would not adapt to the change well, Habeb said. Kittens born to the colonies and some of the socialized cats can be adopted to homes.
She said she started her first colony with 32 cats about four years ago. Three of the cats are still part of the colony. About 15 were placed in homes and the rest died of various causes, including old age.
Some the cats adopted were domestic pets that got lost or were removed for their homes. Habeb said the domestic cats can revert back into a wild state and become feral, or free roaming.
“How can you justify killing these cats when there’s an alternative,” Habeb said. “It’s so hard on the shelter workers” to euthanize the animals.
In a little more than three years, about 700 cats have been spayed or neutered locally, she said.
“We’ve save thousands and thousands of (cat) lives just by neutering those cats,” Habeb said.
She said she does not know of any other organization in the state that sterilizes, vaccinates and shelters feral cats.
Boley said the bill would probably be put in a committee today or Tuesday. The committee will study the legislation.
“We got it introduced. We’ll just have to see what happens,” Boley said, adding the bill needs support if it is going to pass and the process could take several years.
Habeb said people need to contact their state senators and delegates to show support for the bill.
Save a Kitty is part of the national program Alley Cat Allies. Habeb said Alley Cat Allies began in the 1990s. Shelters in areas with the program have shown a 75 percent reduction in the number of cats euthanized.
For more information on Save a Kitty, visit the web site www.saveakitty.org.
