Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

I’ve been parking in a different parking lot at work lately, and recently, I noticed something unusual in the landscaped area between the parking lots. There were these shaded box type structures, surrounded by water bowls, and what looked like containers of…. Kitty Litter.

Closer examination of some of the structures revealed live animal traps. You know, those kind designed to trap animals without hurting them? Also, several of the bowls that I thought were for water contained…. Cat Food.

It was kind of puzzling, until I heard about “The Program”. It turns out, that the companies campus here, with it’s multitude of shade, available water, and small rodent and bird population, has developed into a sort of oasis in the desert. But the oasis, is not just an oasis for lizards, rodents, and birds, but it also seems to have attracted a growing stray cat population. To be honest, I have noticed several of them running around the campus.

Further investigation revealed that while I saw a few of them, there apparently is quite a few that I wasn’t seeing. So much so, that it had become a problem. So, in order to combat the issue, the “pet lovers” society on campus, with the support of the company, had set out these food/water and traps around the campus, and when they trap a cat, they spay/neuter them, and release them back out onto the campus.

Huh? Yeah, I know, I was a little confused at that too. At first I thought, why not just trap them, and turn them over to the Humane Society, somebody will adopt them, problem solved, right?

Nope.

See, there’s a problem. While some of these cats may have originally been domesticated, after living out in the wild for awhile, or even some of them being born wild, they are known as “ferrel cats”, which makes them VERY hard, or impossible to tame, or domesticate. In other words, Not Adoptable. So, in case you are not aware of what happens to animals turned over to the Humane Society (ASPCA to some of you) that are not adoptable, well, let’s just say that their prospects of a long life, are not good.

So, the alternative that the company came up with, was to spay/neuter them, making the cats sterile, and in that way, use the inability to reproduce as a way to arrest the growing population, and eventually (hopefully) reverse the growth and bring it under control. Now, some may think, releasing a cat back out onto the campus is still a cruel thing to do, but to be honest, the cats that I’ve seen running around don’t seem to be in ill health, starving or in distress. I’ve noticed there does not seem to be any lack of shelter, food or water available for them.

Certainly the Large Grey Cat that seems to have taken a liking to staring me down from his (her?) “post” by the food/water bowls and shelter, which is near my parking space, would be regarded as a fine feline specimen in any cat lovers book, I have a feeling that the “campus cats” aren’t “suffering” too much, and since the alternative, which by the way would have been easier and cheaper for the company, would almost certainly result in euthanasia, I think that the company actually made a more “Humane” choice, to deal with the problem, then they could have, or most companies would have.

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty :-)