On Monday, June 16th, Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS) from Calgary were in Rockyford trying to catch a number of wild cats at a property in the village.
They were asked to do so on a private property and Rachel from AARCS explains the process for them to catch the animals. “Typically the request will come in from a property owner. Sometimes we get requests from the town itself, if it is a bigger project. Typically we are working with individual property owners where they have a large number of cats, whether a mix of friendly or feral. A lot of times, cats get dumped on properties, especially rural properties, so those populations can get out of hand pretty quickly.”
When collecting the cats, AARCS will find the animals next homes and it depends on the temperament of the cat on if it becomes a house cat or barn cat, confirms Rachel. “It all depends on the temperament of the cat. Sometimes we get cats and they will be lovely house pets, so we will put them up for adoption that way. Sometimes, those feral guys, they need a special home so we do have a barn cat program where we adopt out cats to farms, shops, anybody that might need a mouser.”
One of the biggest keys to limit the numbers of cats roaming around is to spay a neuter your cat confirms Rachel. “It is so, so important. Not only for the cat but for the population themselves. If every female cat has six kittens a litter, once or twice a year, they get out of control very quickly. It is also really important for disease prevention.”
They were hoping to be able to wrangle up the cats in Rockyford within one day but may have had to extend it, depending on how elusive the wild cats were.
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