With hundreds of unwanted cats who yearn for a new family to cuddle them, these feral cats have little chance of being adopted even if they wanted to spend their lives in a human home. So we take them to live in a fully fenced area on a volunteer's property outside of town. They have a little cabin there that serves as shelter during bad weather. It's furnished with perches, posts and beds, and it's heated in the winter time. The have several feeding stations around the area with crunchies available to them all the time, and they get treated to soft food twice a week. They have woods and an open area to explore, play, and sun themselves. There are several little huts and dog houses throughout the woods with bedding inside that serve as private nests. For a feral, it's a good life.
We humans domesticated these creatures. When we abandon unaltered pets,
their offspring grow up in neighbourhoods, industrial complexes and commercial
districts where they're unwelcome, yet it's the only home they know. They
reproduce rapidly, perpetuating a cycle of wild, urban creatures doomed
to short, harsh lives. Trapping, neutering and releasing (TNR) where they
can live out their lives in peace is the least we owe them.
This is their cabin with a view of the inside.
It has an attached, enclosed porch like the communal rooms at the shelter,
and it has various entrances for the cat in addition to the main door used
by the volunteer when she goes in to clean.
The property has about 5,000 sq. ft. of grassy areas, bushes and trees. The volunteer who monitors the ferals sees them flitting through the bushes, chasing bugs in the grass and even snoozing perched in the trees.
The volunteer who maintains the area, feeding and cleaning daily, took
some photos recently. Click on Latest
Feral Colony Photos to see them.