A colony of feral cats in Stockton, Calif., must move before June 2007. (Photo courtesy of Agee Memorial Wildlife Fund) |
A feral cat colony living near the Pollardville Restaurant and Ghost Town in Stockton, Calif., needs to move before June 2007. That’s when new construction will begin on the site, and bulldozers will raze the existing buildings and everything else on the property.
The Agee Memorial Wildlife Fund, directed by Cindy Minghelli, is working to trap, alter and find new homes for more than 40 feral cats living near the site. Working with several of the restaurant’s employees, Minghelli is tempting the wary cats into the traps so she can relocate them to her property and eventually find the feral cats new homes. While she has successfully rescued 11 cats so far, the others are proving difficult to trap.
“The cats have gotten savvy and are avoiding the traps,” Minghelli explained. “We’re having to use new tactics to try to catch them.”
Of the 11 feral cats rescued from the site, five have been placed in new homes. Minghelli is discovering that not all the cats are wild, and she suspects that several of the cats in the colony are actually pets that were dumped at the restaurant.
Minghelli hopes to trap five to 10 cats each week to make sure she rescues all the cats before the June 2007 deadline. For more information about her efforts and to find out how to help, visit the Agee Memorial Wildlife Fund website.