The quickest way to alleviate the problem would be if everyone concerned would adopt a homeless cat. But this is not a reasonable suggestion. Some folks have family pets and cannot introduce a feral or unfamiliar animal into their homes, others travel too often for work, or are not physically or emotionally good candidates for adoption. Fortunately, there are plenty of other ways for concerned people to make a difference. Donating money and/or time is very helpful. If you would like to donate money to one of the numerous registered animal rescue charities, it will be tax-deductible, just take care to ensure the organization is on the up-and-up. Many Animal Defense League locations welcome volunteers, as do other helpful groups. If you would like to donate your time, I can guarantee you a fulfilling experience. Groups need help transporting animals, setting traps, feeding colonies that are post-TNR, building shelters, and with many other activities.
Another
way to help abandoned and homeless cats (and dogs) is to keep a bag
of dry pet food in your trunk. I always have a bag of healthy dry
cat food in the trunk, and a day doesn’t go by that I don’t find
a cat or three or four behind some dumpster or convenience store,
that have no regular access to food. They stay close to the dumpster
because they can smell the food that the store disposes of on a daily
basis. Many times the managers will not give the discarded food to
the cats, because they consider the cats to be pests who will leave
if not fed. But as long as they can smell the food, they will be
nearby. It is heartbreaking to see the amount of food that is thrown
away in front of hungry animals in this country. Keep in mind that
if you see a cat with a tipped ear, that likely it has been “fixed”,
and may be looking for a place to live out its life in peace, even if
it means sleeping in a drainage ditch next to a Dollar General Store.
Keep a bag of dry cat food in your trunk (whatever size you can
afford), and every time you stop at a local neighborhood convenience
or grocery store, take a close look: they’re there, waiting for
night to arrive so they can go scavenging for food.
One
very important way to help unwanted or abandoned cats is to talk
about the problem with your friends and family. There is no need to
aggravate people; it doesn’t need to come up at every meal right
after Grace is said. But I’ve learned during my life that most
people are decent, animal-loving folks. Something else I’ve
learned is that the media and the State and Federal government will
not address the issue, nor will they help (local authorities have
been more involved, because the problem usually ends up with one of
their departments). Many good people have no idea how bad the
problem is, and others live under the misconception that cats in
particular have no problem living on their own out in the wild. We
need to remind people about the definition of “domesticated”.
Abandoned cats starve, catch all sorts of illness, are threatened by
predators, and suffer terribly outside of the care and attention from
a loving person or family. Please do a bit when you can, to educate
the people you know. Tell them about the “Trap-Neuter-Return”
program (which should have an “M” at the end for “Maintenance”).
If you know nice people who have an animal that is still “intact”,
politely explain that our environment is unable to support the
unwanted newborn animals as it is, and it would be in everyone’s
best interest if their kitty were “snipped”.
Personally, I have hope that soon enough people will recognize the
daily suffering that abandoned and homeless animals endure, mostly
because of the behavior of people and influence the federal
government to spend a bit of money creating a legitimate,
coast-to-coast program, to control the population of unwanted
domesticated animals. A useful program that acts as a clearing house
for donations from people and companies, that coordinates volunteers,
and that arranges seminars and other methods of educating people,
wouldn’t cost the Federal government anything at all; probably less
than they pay to fly home first-class after every session. Also,
please come up with your own ways to help these poor animals. All we
can do is look to each other. Separately we are weak, but together,
we might just make something wonderful happen.
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