Spearheading a TNR Program

[Stacykins]

I will start from the beginning. I currently live in Milwaukee, and have lived here the past four years. I began participating in a local trap-neuter/spay-release program when I noted my home had several stray and feral cats in the area. After their TNR ordeal, I continued to monitor, feed, and water them, and provide outdoor shelter. Didn't get many new cats to my small colony, only seeing a 'newbie' when a previous member was killed. The roads here caused the most casualties, and that is where I found them. The life of a feral is short and full of hardships, but at least they had a place to come to with food, clean water, and safety, and the females didn't have to stress their bodies constantly pumping out litters. The cats were not only sterilized, but also vaccinated against rabies and distemper, and micro chipped. Their ears were tipped of course to be visual markers. Those who tested positive for feline leukemia were euthanized, which I know is more humane than letting them succumb to their disease, and spreading it.

Fas tfoward to now. In a few months, I am moving into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to Escanaba. I will be living in a home with ten acres of land. I need to finish up my lease here in Milwaukee (UP home is not leased, family member owned) before I can permanently move there. I've already met most of my neighbors. One in particular was a charming, older man. However, he is the caretaker of a large colony of feral cats. He is very kind, but doesn't have two pennies to rub together to spay or neuter them. As a result, none of these cats, who are the offspring of once dumped pets, are spayed or neutered. He feeds them, catches some of the kittens for socialization and adoption, and has built outdoor shelters, but there is no way there can be numbers control if none are sterilized. I know the road gets a few, and coyotes probably pick off others, but queens just replace them in the spring with new litters, and not all kittens can be rounded up.

My research commenced. I made calls and emails to known spay and neuter programs in Michigan. However, none are in the UP, not anywhere close. Most are in southern part of the lower Peninsula, such as Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids. However, one woman in a Detroit program told me they wanted to get a program going in the UP, but had no locals to help out, and since they were based in Detroit, distance complicated that task. So, I may be able to get the ball rolling on either a TNR or low cost spay/neuter. But I have no idea how. I've only participated in the program here in Milwaukee, not started one up from scratch. Does anyone here have experience with TNR or starting a program at all? It will probably be a long and difficult road, and I am not sure where to start. I don't want to have delusions of grandeur, starting small is the only way to do so.

 

[WIChookchick]

Stacy kins, have you tried to contact any animal rescues in the UP, or see if there is a humane society near the WI/MI border?
I googled Friends of Ferals, and found a few things.
Including a grant for start ups called Maddies Fund
http://www.maddiesfund.org/funded_projects/starter_grants.html
And this seems to have a ton of links for Feral Cat Organizations.
http://www.castawaycritters.org/info/display?PageID=158

Hope this helps..
I am just south of Madison by the way!
Carol

 

[Stacykins]

Thank you so much. I sent an email to the Madison TNR program so see if they have any information that could be of help. If push comes to shove, I could drive a large group of trapped ferals to Madison for sterilization. I'd need to get more traps (I've only needed one for the work I've done here in Milwaukee! Very small colony in my neighborhood).

A few of the shelters I contacted gave very curt responses. I will try them again, maybe I got someone short of time and not wanting to discuss something like TNR. One I got a "we don't do that and will never consider such a thing *click*". I didn't even get a chance to thank them for receiving the call even if they don't

I know many places are short on money and volunteers with the way the economy has been.

 

[TNR Researcher]

Do you all have liability insurance in excess of $10 million in coverage for what you are doing to your neighbors and community?

Here's a couple of good recent (and independent) examples of what TNR promoters and practitioners bring to your communities.

http://wfla.com/2017/06/07/target-8...abid-cat-bites-victim-in-hillsborough-county/

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/n...-forcing-rabies-shots/WxwyZW9IiWWNl8ZbKU5bxM/

Any animal harvested from the wild which already has rabies is not cured of rabies with that single vaccination they give it. Nor are any kittens able to mount an effective defense against rabies from a vaccination because their immune systems aren’t developed enough yet.

Any animal harvested from unknown rabies exposure conditions with an unknown vaccination history must be quarantined for no less than 6 months in a government supervised double-walled containment system — as required by all national and international pet-trade, import/export, and animal-transport laws. Anyone involved in your TNR programs at any level can be deeply sued for being in direct violation of these laws.

The worst incidence of human rabies exposure in US HISTORY was due to a TNR’d feral cat colony in Concord, NH in 1994. A rabid raccoon attracted to food left out for the “colony” infected four of the colonies kittens with rabies–all subsequently died. But before they did the colony “caretakers” foisted them on a local pet shop, which sold them to the public. 665 people were exposed, and each one had to receive PEP inoculation. It cost that town nearly $2 million.