December 16, 2005

EVC’s Operation Kitty-Capture a success

Cat lovers catch, spay and release feral cats

Concerned Evergreen Valley College instructor David Eisenberg and his staff are in their second year of a program designed to lessen the feral cat problems in the Evergreen Valley hills.

Cats, apparently released in the hills behind EVC, come down from the hills each summer in search of water. They often become trapped in walls after crawling behind water fountains, and Evergreen Valley College support staff was frequently being called to rescue them.

Over time, it became clear that something needed to be done. Concerned staff began the Operation Kitty-Capture Project.

The project began when a friend of Eisenberg trapped a feral cat and kittens and gave one of the kittens to Eisenberg. The kitten quickly became a pet and friend, and when Eisenberg noticed the growing feral cat colony in the Evergreen Hills, he knew he had to do something.

Eisenberg’s answer was to enlist a small group of co-workers to trap, spay and release the feral cats. To launch the program, staff pitched in for several humane-capture traps and tuna fish. They trap the cats and have them spayed.

If the cats are judged suitable for re-domestication, friendly EVC staff and friends adopt them. If not, they are spayed and released.

Feral cats are the offspring of stray or abandoned pets. Raised without human contact, they revert to their wild state and form colonies where food and shelter are available. There may be as many as 70 million feral cats alive in the United States, the consequence of little effort to control the population and of their ability to reproduce quickly. The cats are often underfed and ill, but when taken to animal shelters, they are often judged as unable to be domesticated and killed.

Eisenberg notes that spaying and releasing, “lets the cats live the only life they are accustomed to. Some of these cats have gone completely wild and could never adapt to domestication. But if the cats were left with SPCA (the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) they would eventually be euthanized. By spaying and releasing them, we ensure that they will not create more feral cats, but they will be able to live. And if they keep the rodent population around EVC down? That’s a bonus.”

For more information and kitty pictures, visit http://catcode.com/catblog.html.