BORDENTOWN CITY: Group watches over feral cats
REGISTER-NEWS
Thursday, March 24, 2011 8:05 AM EDT
By Amber Cox, Staff Writer
BORDENTOWN CITY — The feral cats of the city are getting a second chance at life because of the effort of one group.
The Bordentown City Cats practice the trap, neuter and release (TNR) program, lowering the feral cat population in the city. But that is not all the group does.
Mak Kieffer, one of the group’s core members, said the group has been around since March of 2003. The core group includes about 12 members, with a second tier of about 15.
”We had started our group just to honor the feral cats,” she said. “The big thing about feral cats is somewhere in the beginning, someone just left one out there. Two feral cats can make thousands.”
Ms. Kieffer said there are a large number of colonies in the city but the group doesn’t talk about where the colonies are.
”That’s one of the things with rescue groups, they never talk about where the colonies are,” she said.
There are very few colonies that people actually know the location of, one of which is where it all began, down at the beach.
”Years ago, that’s where people dropped off their cats,” Ms. Kieffer said. “The police used to have to field the phone calls and call animal control. The city used to have to pay to have them taken into the shelter and euthanized.”
Ms. Kieffer said the beach would get littered with leftovers from Mastoris Diner because people were feeding the cats.
”There was all this food at the beach and people were getting mad,” she said. “We went to the commissioners at the time and said ‘let us try our way. Give us six months.’”
Ms. Kieffer said they told the city it wouldn’t cost them anything and they would help get the feral cat population down. The police are out of the picture and the city has it’s own animal control person who calls the group if he has a cat problem.
”Everybody is working together,” she said. “The town is fabulous. People who don’t like cats, love this, because it means less cats.”
Over the past eight years the group has fixed around 600 cats. Ms. Kieffer said to remember that those 600 cats could have multiplied into thousands.
Ms. Kieffer said the group has a couple of cages at PetSmart, “because from feral cats came another problem, the very sweet cats that were just dropped off and weren’t feral yet.”
Ms. Kieffer said when new cats try to enter a colony, sometimes it’s not let in, leading to the adoption stage of the group. There is also the kitten part, which Ms. Kieffer said no matter how fast they move with trapping, nature occurs and kittens are born.
”No matter how fast you trap, you just don’t know,” she said. “So, we get to the adoption part, which is the most expensive part. A kitten can sometimes cost us $500 to get it ready for adoption.”
Ms. Kieffer said kittens are like babies and can catch almost anything. The kittens cannot be adopted until they are completely cleaned and have all of their vaccines.
”We test them to make sure they don’t have any of the big diseases,” she said.
Ms. Kieffer also said that the group gets a donation from the people who adopt the kittens. She also called this time of year the “nerve wracking season.”
The group gets calls from people telling them they have litters of kittens and the group goes and gets the kittens.
Everything for the group is donation or fundraising based. They hold a few fundraisers every year. The flea market, April 9, is the biggest fundraiser for the group.
Ms. Kieffer said the group gets checks from people who have adopted cats and even get letters and pictures saying how the animal is doing.
”We have this ongoing, wonderful relationship because we check on our cats after they’re adopted,” she said.
Although Ms. Kieffer said the group is doing well with donations there is a need for foster homes for cats that were just released into the wild and for the kittens.
”We had a long hair cat, and her hair got so knotted that it began to fall out,” she said. “We took her to the vet and she’s getting fixed, but she also has to be shaved. We can’t put her out in the wild while she’s shaved because she needs that fur for protection so we’re going to keep her for a while.”
In situations like that, the group needs foster homes for the animals.
Ms. Kieffer said the group doesn’t usually spend a whole lot of money on one cat, but if the opportunity presents itself the group will do its best.
”We had a cat recently with a broken leg,” she said. “It was the most heartbreaking thing because it had been left by its owners like that. We took a chance; we don’t usually spend a lot of money on one cat because we would go bankrupt. We went on the Internet to our friends and asked if anybody would help donate for the surgery. The cat had its surgery and even got adopted after.”
Ms. Kieffer said every once in a while the group gets really lucky. She said the group has even been left small sums of money in people’s wills.
All of the colonies are fed one good meal a day. The rule of the group is that all of the food has to be picked up and cleaned up by nightfall so other animals don’t start congregating in the areas.
"We don’t trap at night because then we catch other things, and we don’t want to do that,” Ms. Kieffer said. “We tell everybody who feeds the cats not to do it at night.”
Ms. Kieffer said the whole town has been great to the group and that everybody helps to their level.
”We’re very lucky we live in this town,” she said. “This town is so special. There are so many good people that don’t want anybody to know. They just take care of what they have to take care of because they love the animals.”
REGISTER-NEWS
Thursday, March 24, 2011 8:05 AM EDT
By Amber Cox, Staff Writer
BORDENTOWN CITY — The feral cats of the city are getting a second chance at life because of the effort of one group.
The Bordentown City Cats practice the trap, neuter and release (TNR) program, lowering the feral cat population in the city. But that is not all the group does.
Mak Kieffer, one of the group’s core members, said the group has been around since March of 2003. The core group includes about 12 members, with a second tier of about 15.
”We had started our group just to honor the feral cats,” she said. “The big thing about feral cats is somewhere in the beginning, someone just left one out there. Two feral cats can make thousands.”
Ms. Kieffer said there are a large number of colonies in the city but the group doesn’t talk about where the colonies are.
”That’s one of the things with rescue groups, they never talk about where the colonies are,” she said.
There are very few colonies that people actually know the location of, one of which is where it all began, down at the beach.
”Years ago, that’s where people dropped off their cats,” Ms. Kieffer said. “The police used to have to field the phone calls and call animal control. The city used to have to pay to have them taken into the shelter and euthanized.”
Ms. Kieffer said the beach would get littered with leftovers from Mastoris Diner because people were feeding the cats.
”There was all this food at the beach and people were getting mad,” she said. “We went to the commissioners at the time and said ‘let us try our way. Give us six months.’”
Ms. Kieffer said they told the city it wouldn’t cost them anything and they would help get the feral cat population down. The police are out of the picture and the city has it’s own animal control person who calls the group if he has a cat problem.
”Everybody is working together,” she said. “The town is fabulous. People who don’t like cats, love this, because it means less cats.”
Over the past eight years the group has fixed around 600 cats. Ms. Kieffer said to remember that those 600 cats could have multiplied into thousands.
Ms. Kieffer said the group has a couple of cages at PetSmart, “because from feral cats came another problem, the very sweet cats that were just dropped off and weren’t feral yet.”
Ms. Kieffer said when new cats try to enter a colony, sometimes it’s not let in, leading to the adoption stage of the group. There is also the kitten part, which Ms. Kieffer said no matter how fast they move with trapping, nature occurs and kittens are born.
”No matter how fast you trap, you just don’t know,” she said. “So, we get to the adoption part, which is the most expensive part. A kitten can sometimes cost us $500 to get it ready for adoption.”
Ms. Kieffer said kittens are like babies and can catch almost anything. The kittens cannot be adopted until they are completely cleaned and have all of their vaccines.
”We test them to make sure they don’t have any of the big diseases,” she said.
Ms. Kieffer also said that the group gets a donation from the people who adopt the kittens. She also called this time of year the “nerve wracking season.”
The group gets calls from people telling them they have litters of kittens and the group goes and gets the kittens.
Everything for the group is donation or fundraising based. They hold a few fundraisers every year. The flea market, April 9, is the biggest fundraiser for the group.
Ms. Kieffer said the group gets checks from people who have adopted cats and even get letters and pictures saying how the animal is doing.
”We have this ongoing, wonderful relationship because we check on our cats after they’re adopted,” she said.
Although Ms. Kieffer said the group is doing well with donations there is a need for foster homes for cats that were just released into the wild and for the kittens.
”We had a long hair cat, and her hair got so knotted that it began to fall out,” she said. “We took her to the vet and she’s getting fixed, but she also has to be shaved. We can’t put her out in the wild while she’s shaved because she needs that fur for protection so we’re going to keep her for a while.”
In situations like that, the group needs foster homes for the animals.
Ms. Kieffer said the group doesn’t usually spend a whole lot of money on one cat, but if the opportunity presents itself the group will do its best.
”We had a cat recently with a broken leg,” she said. “It was the most heartbreaking thing because it had been left by its owners like that. We took a chance; we don’t usually spend a lot of money on one cat because we would go bankrupt. We went on the Internet to our friends and asked if anybody would help donate for the surgery. The cat had its surgery and even got adopted after.”
Ms. Kieffer said every once in a while the group gets really lucky. She said the group has even been left small sums of money in people’s wills.
All of the colonies are fed one good meal a day. The rule of the group is that all of the food has to be picked up and cleaned up by nightfall so other animals don’t start congregating in the areas.
"We don’t trap at night because then we catch other things, and we don’t want to do that,” Ms. Kieffer said. “We tell everybody who feeds the cats not to do it at night.”
Ms. Kieffer said the whole town has been great to the group and that everybody helps to their level.
”We’re very lucky we live in this town,” she said. “This town is so special. There are so many good people that don’t want anybody to know. They just take care of what they have to take care of because they love the animals.”
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