FERAL FELINE FREE PRESS Elkhart County Feral Cat Coalition
GOODBYE 2011 HELLO 2012!
DECEMBER 2011 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3
HIGHLIGHTS & RECAPS OF 2011 The ECFCC, along with its volunteers have been very busy during 2011 making life better for the free-roaming Cats in Elkhart County. Since beginning our TNR program in April 2010, we have spayed/neutered over 300 cats, and registered over 80 colonies.
funding support. Thank you to all of the generous donors this past year and to all of the volunteers who helped us raise money to assist colony caretakers who could not afford to spay & neuter.
We collected 797.6 lbs of dry food, and 241 cans (2314.5 oz) of wet food for our colonies, thanks to Martin‟s Pet & Garden in Elkhart and the ABC Clinic in Granger.
Thanks to Darlene for taking over picking up the aluminum cans from the Humane Society and turning them in for cash for us. To see how you can make a difference, fill out our volunteer form on page 4 and help us give our out-door families the help they need.
Of course we can‟t carry on our mission to “Humanely Reduce the Cat Population in Elkhart County” without
Check out page 5 to see what other fund-raising events we participated in this year. We will be planning
2012 soon and will be putting out on our e-mail list events that you can watch for. In addition to spay/neuter and food support, we have started a separate fund for medical support. See page 2 for details. We continuously meet and talk to various groups and elected officials about TNR and how it is a win-win situation. Continue to send us your stories of success as testimony that TNR is the only effective, humane solution to the cat overpopulation. Together, we‟re convinced that we will be able to make huge strides in the lives of our free-roaming cats in the new year!
Inside this issue: Medicat Fund
Keeping your colony cats 2 warm this winter Did you Know?
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Those Don‟t look like cats!
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Fund-raising events
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ECFCC in the Goshen News
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FERAL BED & BREAKFAST
Free-Roaming Bed & Breakfast The ECFCC was in need of a pre/post surgery holding area for the cats, so this 12x20 foot shed was converted into our free-roaming B&B. It is wired for lighting, and now has insulation and paneling thanks to the hard work of volunteers. A BIG THANK YOU to Paris and Becky Ball-Miller of Troyer Foods in Goshen for donating 2 brand new air conditioners to keep the cats cool during hot summer days!
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ECFCC MEDICAT FUND The ECFCC has started a fund to help pay for our registered free-roaming cats in need of medical care. Occasionally we come across a colony cat that needs help such as an antibiotic to help ward off an infection, or to treat an illness. The fund is called Medicat (ie Medicare for cats). Your donations not only help with spay/neuter costs, it also helps us give some much needed medical care for the cats that they would not otherwise receive.
Here is „lil Smokey, a young kitten who had a bad eye and needed antibiotics and a stay in our “Hospital Ward”, a converted rabbit hutch.
VOLUNTEERING AT SUNBURST RACE AND THE REAL WINNER IS……………….
The annual Sunburst Race was held on June 4th. The ECFCC sent a team of volunteers to man a water stop at mile #17 in return for a donation to our nonprofit organization. Shown here our “team” and the turtle who crossed over the race path just before the runners came through. We know who the real winner was!
KEEP YOUR COLONIES WARM THIS WINTER! Keep your cats warm this winter with one of our insulating foam shelters!
We also have heated water bowls so you don‟t have to keep chipping ice all winter!
*Suggested donation to cover cost of material & supplies
Can‟t apply flea treatment to your feral? No problem! Use some of our Food-Grade Diatomacious Earth to keep fleas, ticks, and parasites off of your cats! Just sprinkle on their bedding……………
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DID YOU KNOW? If you are from Elkhart County………….and register your FREEROAMING CATS with the Elkhart County Feral Cat Coalition (ECFCC) For $40 your feline spay/neuter also includes:
*Rabies Vaccine *Revolution Flea Treatment treats fleas, ear mites, internal parasites, and is a heartworm preventative *Protection for your cat if it is turned into the Humane Society *Discounts on cat food & other supplies at local retailers
Contact us to find out more and to register 574-333-6066/
[email protected]
Thanks to Monica Joseph, Goshen News Reporter, for doing a story about one of our registered colonies and their dedicated caretakers, Cheri & Jim. Story on back page.………...
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Join the TNR movement and help improve the lives of free-roaming cats!
ECFCC’s “Wish List”
Fill out the volunteer form and mail to: ECFCC, Inc. P.O. Box 2196 Elkhart, IN 46515 Every offer to help counts!
THOSE DON’T LOOK LIKE CATS!
Sometimes we run into something a little out of the ordinary when visiting a potential colony caretaker. This time it was a pleasant surprise - 6 large peacocks! Barb says a couple just showed up one day and the female laid her eggs. She and her husband Richard feed them, along with the outdoor cats, and have built them their own “house” on the back of their property, complete with a heat lamp and straw.
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V O LU M E 1 I S S U E 3
KIBBLES & BITS Other fund-raising events the ECFCC participated in this year: Goshen 1st Friday
Cleveland Christmas Craft Bazaar
Gift-wrapping at Concord Mall to raise money for our Medicat Fund
Car Wash @ Doug‟s Dry Cleaning in Goshen
Carson’s Community Days coupon book sale
Humane Society of Elkhart County Pet Fest
Martin’s pet & garden “Crazy for Cats”
Its COOL to be a Caretaker!
4-Winds Garden Party
ECFCC’s 3rd Annual Winter Shelter Build And Sale
ORDER YOUR ECFCC TSHIRT AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!
ECFCC IN THE (GOSHEN)NEWS What to do about all those cats? Feral Cat Coalition favors a humane approach. By MONICA JOSEPH THE GOSHEN NEWS Mon Dec 19, 2011, 11:00 AM EST GOSHEN — When a stray mother cat gave birth to five kittens at the home of Jim and Cheri Miller of Goshen, it didn‟t take a lot of complicated math to figure out that if left to nature‟s design, the Millers‟ cat population would soon be out of control. The Millers called a local veterinarian and were told the spaying/neutering bill would be about $180 per cat. With that daunting number in mind, the Millers turned to the Internet for help. That‟s where they found the Elkhart County Feral Cat Coalition. It‟s an agency that strives to humanely reduce the feral cat population through managed, registered colonies using the trap/neuter/ return policy. According to Chris Bralick, one of the non-profit agency‟s founders, the ECFCC provides education for cat colony caretakers and vouchers for reduced-cost spaying and neutering at a clinic in Granger. The vouchers entitle the caregivers to a $40 procedure, which includes a rabies shot and parasite and flea medicines. Volunteers with the ECFCC also loan out the traps to colony caretakers and give tips for safe trapping. What the ECFCC does not do, Bralick said, is trap and remove nuisance cats. The agency‟s services are reserved for people with managed colonies who intend to continue to care for the animals. The agency received its non-profit status in 2009 and began trapping in 2010. There are now 80 registered colonies in Elkhart County and 300 cats have been spayed or neutered through the TNR program. The Millers‟ colony started the way many do, according to Bralick. The couple fed one raggedy, chewed-up stray (they named it Garfield), which eventually drew the mother cat, who gave birth in a cat house the Millers built on their porch. Once in touch with the ECFCC, the Millers found the help they needed to keep their cat population under control. Volunteers Bralick and Lynn Mathews came out, trained the couple on how to trap the animals, how to care for them after trapping and provided the traps and covers. The couple were given the information on scheduling the vet appointment at ABC Clinic and given a voucher for the reduced cost altering. “So many people have what we have and don‟t know what to do,” Cheri said. “The (ECFCC) was extremely professional. They came out and met with us. They were there for us every step of the way.” The ECFCC also takes an active role in making sure the colonies receiving help are being operated under its guidelines. “We come out to make sure they are being taken care of and that they (feeders) abide by our policies,” Bralick said. “They must provide food, shelter and water and address complaints and actively spay and neuter.” Bralick said that one of the biggest misconceptions her agency battles is that it encourages people to have many cats on their property, which could cause problems in the neighborhood. “We actually agree with them,” Bralick said of large colonies. “That‟s why they (the cats) have to be altered. We call them „managed‟ colonies. That says it all — „managed. The only way to stabilize a colony, as best we can, is to get them altered.” Bralick said altering isn‟t a guarantee to make a colony disappear — strays may still show up due to the food source — but TNR is the only way to humanely reduce the population. The word “humane” is key to the agency‟s purpose. “Managed colonies are allowed in Elkhart County,” Bralick said. “It is against the law to maim, shoot or poison the cats. A lot of harm comes to wild cats.” Since the Millers‟ kittens were born, the couple has been greatly entertained by its small “family” of Dizzy, Pretty Kitty, Scraggly and Mother. To keep the cats from digging in their neighbors‟ yards, Jim even built them an outhouse, complete with a half moon door. One kitten has since wandered off, and one was hit by a car, but each morning and afternoon, four furry faces are on the porch, waiting — not all that patiently — for food. They even tap on the window if the Millers don‟t move fast enough to suit them. “We‟re just happy they haven‟t learned to use the doorbell,” Cheri joked.
