Catnapper!

[Inchworm]

The strangest thing happened tonight.

There is a colony of feral cats living in the woods next door to the apartment complex where I live. Over the years various tenants here have fed and looked out for them. The owner of a business in the front of the next property has made a shelter for them to get in out of the weather. They are big beautiful cats, with thick fur now that it's winter. One of my neighbors has actually petted some of them but usually they get close but not that close to the rest of us. He's the fellow who is feeding them now. It's cute to watch them come up to him whenever he comes out of the building.

While I was visiting a neighbor who lives at the far end of my hall, her husband called us into the darkened back room. He had seen a car pull in downstairs and looked out the window. By the time we got there we saw that a baited trap was set out next to their food dishes and the man who set it was running back to his car. He got in and drove away.

Needless to say, that trap didn't stay there long. I grabbed it and threw it in the dumpster.

An hour or so later my neighbor called to let me know the car returned and the man was roaming around looking for the trap. There was a woman with him this time. My neighbor went downstairs and watched as the catnappers drove around the driveway.

As it turns out, the catnappers live in one of the other buildings in this apartment complex. They have been seen at another time looking at and even feeding the cats. Now we don't know what to do. There is just no good explanation for why they would be setting a trap for these cats if they liked them. There is nothing to do around here with a feral cat that you have trapped at 9:00 p.m. on a Sunday night except take it for a ride and lose it, or even worse.

To make matters worse, my neighbor just checked the garbage and found that they found and retrieved their trap.

The size of the colony has been getting smaller and now we know it is not due to natural causes.

What can we do to protect them from these awful people?

 

[Kitty_Nin]

Is it possible they're taking them to be spayed/neutered?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Kitty_Nin

I doubt it. If they intended well I suspect that they would have said something to the gentleman who feeds them. It's no secret who he is. This guy was sneaking around and I saw him really hurry back to his car after setting the trap out.

 

[seffieuk]

Oh that sounds awful, what are you all going to do?

Seffie x

oh heck, just had an awful thought, you said big, lovely cats with thick coats, maybe they are after their fur

 

[Curiosity101]

I was trying to think innocently here. And that they may just be cat lovers who want to tame them by taking them away and giving them a home. All I can think is, ask them? And if they say they're keeping them then ask for proof.

Other than that, if you really think they look suspicious then is there anyone you can call? Someone like the RSPCA we have in England?

 

[chesterscot]

thats really freaky hope you sort it out keep us posted
scot

 

[Tolak]

Does he have a trapping license? You may want to look over this; http/www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/355.html

As well as this; http/www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/37136.html

Trapping is a form of hunting, there are regulations to be followed.

 

[Inchworm]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.

Let me update you on what we have done today. First, taking Curiosity101's suggestion, I called the Suffolk County SPCA. The woman who answered the phone said that it wasn't their responsibility. She said that whoever was trapping them was required to have a wildlife license to trap any , "free roaming animals." She told me that feral cats were in that category and gave me the number for the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). This sounded like good news so I quickly told my neighbors and asked them to call. I also went home to call and make a report myself.

When I called the DEC, that operator said that, "Oh no, you have to call the SPCA about that. Feral cats are not wild animals." She was nice enough to talk to me and take my name and number and the license plate number and description of the car the man drove. She said she would give the information to one of their officers but that he would probably just pass it along to the SPCA.

Needless to say, I called the SPCA back. This time I got a recording that their lines were busy and left my name and phone number. So far nobody has returned my call. Fortunately, my neighbor did get through to them so both agencies have the information. Now it's a matter of just waiting to see if anything happens.

Here are pictures of some of the cats that I took this afternoon. Two of the three I recognize most easily were not there at the time. One of these is a black and white long haired cat with a very shaggy coat. In the summertime it's beautiful. The other is an old male we call "One Eyed Jack." He had an injury to one of his eyes before I moved here (3 1/2 years ago) and one of the tenants then took him to the vet. As a result his eye was stitched closed. He's a favorite of everyone.

BTW, most of the cats are older and have already been neutered or spayed. The only one that I know of who had kittens last year is this one. She's one of my favorites because I would see her walk past my window and sneak off into the woods where her kittens must have been. During the summer she brought three of them out and they quickly disappeared. We're now wondering if this person trapped them.

Here are some of the others:

I'll let you know if there are any more developments. Thanks for caring.

 

[Tolak]

Option two; run the trap over flat with a sturdy vehicle, replace it where it was left. As he is breaking the law who is he going to complain to?

 

[Inchworm]

Option two; run the trap over flat with a sturdy vehicle, replace it where it was left. As he is breaking the law who is he going to complain to?

Oh, I did try to break it. I picked it up as high as I could and smashed it to the ground three times but I don't think I did much damage. It made too much noise to do it any more often. If I had a car it would have been as far away as the cats would have ended up if he caught them.

What I am worried about right now is that no one seems to be wanting to claim responsibility for doing anything about it. Some time back someone abandoned four purebred Siamese cats here and I couldn't even get the pound to take them. I finally found a so called "shelter" that would have taken the only the tiny kitten if I paid them $50 to do it. The thread I posted then is probably still around.

Let's see what tomorrow brings and hope for the best.

 

[Tolak]

Visual effects are a powerful thing, the mind wanders to try to figure out what it means. A smashed up trap replaced right where it was found is good, a broken baseball bat next to it is even better.

 

[shelaghfishface]

wow .. theres a word for people like those 2

what they are doing is horrible..do they have a garden part of the block where maybe the cats are spending too much times or making a "mess"? though even if the answer is yes, theres deffo a humane way to approach this

good luck to you and your neighbours...if one of you has a big truck,car i suggest what Tolak said..then they would see someone is on there tails, and maybe drop it or chose a different approach

the cats are beautiful and lucky to have you all for foster carers

please keep us updated

shelagh xxx

 

[betta fish]

It sounds like these people might be selling the cats or attempting to catch a pregnant one to sell the kittens? it's difficult to decide whether they are doing it for the cats best interests or their own, their are three reasons why they may be doing this 1)to neuter the cats, though it has been said that they are already neutered 2)to sell the cats and make a profit, though I can't imagine it would be easy to sell feral cats so I can only assume they want to catch a pregnant female to sell on the kittens perhaps 3)to destroy the cats but this sounds unlikely as they are letting everyone know by placing traps when there are other more secretive ways of doing it.
What I would do is perhaps approach the people and find out why they are setting the traps, they may not be as bad as you think, explain that the cats are well loved and cared for at the appartments, they may not be aware of this, see what they have to say, though if they want to make a profit from the cats( kittens )I don't think they would care, if the baited traps continue remove them and make sure they cannot retrieve them at all, keep them at your property and donate them to shelter or something! I doubt these people will continue to shell out for traps, they are not cheap and perhaps they will get the message, if you do not want to face the people leave a note for them on the trap but unprime it so they can't trap anything, many cats get wise to traps after a while and will not be caught out twice, if you find one trapped release it, if they are very well fed in the first place they have no reason to enter for the bait either.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Obviously, I cannot vouch for the RSPCA or the USA National Council of SPCA’s, but, during my 12 years’ involvement with the SPCA, (In South Africa) we had a specific policy with respect to colonies of feral cats, which specified that, they are in fact the responsibility of the SPCA to control the expansion of such colonies by trapping at least all the females and have them spayed and placed back in their settlement.

It further specified that the cause of large colonies is the availability of food, as the colony will grow only as large as what the food supplies would allow. (Cats are clever). All colonies were mapped and a specific officer assigned the responsibility for each known colony to periodically visit his/her colony and ensure that the animals are not being fed irrational amounts of food and in instances, they also appointed volunteers to look after (sterilized) colonies and gave specific instructions on the amounts to be fed and all other requirements to maintain such group.

If your local branch of the SPCA claims that it is not their responsibility, try & find out how to contact the National Council of SPCA’s in the USA and specifically ask for a copy of their “minimum criteria guidelines” dealing with feral cats…. I’m positive they must have a policy in place and you will find that your local branch is just shying away from their own responsibilities.

 

[Inchworm]

Thanks for that information, Ludvig Venter.

Since SPCA didn't return my phone call yesterday, I called them today and spoke to a woman named Sheri. She was kind enough to look up the record of my neighbor's complaint and tell me it was assigned to a Sgt. Galoppi for further investigation. I left a message asking that he call me.

Your SPCA in South Africa sounds like it is doing a great job. Since you posted about their spaying program, I mentioned it and asked if they might have been conducting anything similar. They are not but mentioned that perhaps some local cat organization is. When I told her that we have not seen any cats being returned she had to agree that that's probably not the case.

At least we know that someone in an official capacity is investigating this and that there will eventually be some kind of answer as to who is involved and why. Even just that thought makes me feel better.