By Myer Lee
The phone calls would not stop coming.
Every day, someone would contact Friends of Del Rio Animals to notify them about large groups of stray cats or cat colonies and ask what they planned to do about it.
People in Del Rio would find hordes of cats sitting in their driveways, in the parking lot of restaurants and in their barns.
A trap, neuter and release program would slow the increase of cats and prevent the spread of communicable diseases that cats spread such as Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline Leukemia and heartworms. It would also deter unexpected cat litters on properties.
President of Friends Anne Garcia and her team took action. They held raffles, sold hamburger baskets, hosted big chili dinners and advertised at local veterinarian clinics to initiate a feral cat program in response to Del Rio’s overpopulation of cats.
Thanks to the money they raised, Friends of Del Rio Animals caught, spayed or neutered and released 19 cats in its first year.
In the United States, there are between 60 and 100 million feral cats. Within seven years, one female cat and her offspring can produce between 370,000 and 420,000 cats according to People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Suncoast Humane Society.
“That’s why it’s an epidemic,” Garcia said. “It’s hard to get it under control.”
Feral cat colonies are a big problem in the United States because they multiply the number of animals that don’t have proper care, can get sick and are homeless. A feral cat program slows cat overpopulation to prevent more cats from having to suffer.
Garcia said they’ve been able to put a small “dent” in Del Rio’s cat overpopulation, adding the total number of cats is difficult to quantify. They began applying for grants and requesting donations to increase funding. The extra support has helped increase the number of cats they help to 110 a year as of 2019.
Garcia said they helped save cat colonies from multiplying to over four million in local areas Eagle Pass Hill and San Felipe by spaying or neutering over 50 cats. They are still working on colonies at local 4H barns Garcia said.
But she said they could achieve a lot more with the community’s help.
Funding has always been an issue. Garcia said they spent $10,000 on the trap/neuter/release program last year. Because of the pandemic this year, many businesses and charities haven’t been able to afford donating to the program Garcia said.
Del Rioans can help by making contributions and taking action, she said.
“It needs to be a community where people are either participating with us, donating or doing it on their own,” Garcia said. “If you start feeding a cat, fix it. Because it’s a lot cheaper to fix it than to continue feeding more and more cats.”
Friends encourages the community to become agents in decreasing cat overpopulation. Someone who wants to help can set up an appointment with Friends of Del Rio and then Friends will provide the person with a trap.
The person sets up the trap and captures the cat. They then take them to Friends to be spayed or neutered.
Not all cats are spayed or neutered Garcia said. Before Friends performs any procedures, it’s mandatory they check for communicable diseases.
If the cat is negative, they will spay or neuter it. If it is positive, they will euthanize it.
Garcia said pregnant cats have their litters aborted.
After Friends finishes, they give the cat back to the person who trapped it to release it where they found it.
Garcia said a big challenge with trapping is Friends can’t trap on private property. Often, she said, customers lament there are cats at fast food restaurants but Friends can’t do anything unless the owners agree. Most owners don’t want customers to see traps on their properties Garcia said.
A challenge within Friends’ control is funding. Garcia said if Friends had enough money, it would emulate a San Antonio program she likes which slowly fixes animals and moves them to another location.
The program would be expensive because cat colonies are all over Del Rio Garcia said, but additional funding could help them to do more every week.
But what would be most impactful, Garcia said, is education.
“Our main challenge is getting the word out and educating the community on how quickly cats can reproduce and a colony can get out of control,” Garcia said. “By getting their cats fixed, they’re part of the solution.”
