Maintaining feral cat colonies benefits Regina, says PFA
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To commemorate National Feral Cat Day on October 16, People for Animals of Saskatchewan (PFA) urges Regina residents to become involved in its efforts to manage the city’s feral cat population through responsible feral cat colony management.
“Regina, like many communities across Canada, has a cat overpopulation crisis. Family pets are abandoned on Regina streets and left to fend for themselves, and cats that survive the harsh conditions continue to breed, creating an even more bleak situation for themselves and their offspring. The resulting kittens grow into feral cats and are unable to adjust to life with people indoors,” says Silver Cherry, president of PFA.
PFA works to manage Regina’s feral cat population humanely through Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR), a program that involves safely trapping cats, sterilizing them, tattooing them for identification and then returning them to their colonies. The colonies are maintained by PFA volunteers who observe the cats daily and provide shelter, food and water. Kittens born to feral cats are rescued, socialized in foster homes, sterilized, and adopted into loving homes.
“Most animal shelters euthanize feral cats that are trapped because they are unadoptable. A successful TNR program will result in feral cat populations stabilizing and decreasing over time. Catch-and-kill creates a vacuum effect, where two things happen -- intact survivors continue to breed and new cats move into the now-available territory,” says Cherry.
Maintaining healthy feral cat colonies benefits the community by lowering intake for animal rescue shelters, lowering shelter euthanasia rates, reducing the incidence of homeless cats roaming in search of food and shelter, and reducing the incidence of nuisance behaviours such as spraying, fighting and mating.
Members of the public can help by hosting backyard feral cat colonies, donating food and shelter supplies, donating funds to the TNR program, participating in cat shelter-building bees, volunteering as feral cat feeders or to shovel snow for the feeders in the winter, and educating others about the value of feral cat colonies and TNR.
Throughout the month of October, PFA is holding a cat food drive for Regina’s feral cats. Soft and dry food donations can be dropped off at 167 Bothwell Crescent. Pet Valu at 4662 Gordon Road in the Grasslands Shopping Centre is also collecting donations on behalf of PFA throughout October.
PFA is dedicated to rescuing homeless cats and kittens, and maintaining 40 feral cat colonies around Regina. The group works to humanely reduce the number of cats on Regina streets through fostering and adopting tame cats. As well, PFA traps feral cats to sterilize them and then releases them back into their colonies to live out the rest of their lives. The rescue is volunteer-based and operates solely through fundraising and donations from the community. For more information or to volunteer, visit www.pfasask.com. PFA is a member of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and the Alley Cat Allies Feral Friends Network.
