A 2nd Chance

Sad Load

It might look colourful but the story behind this car load is very sad. Warning! If you can't handle sad animal stories then DO NOT read on.

The life expectancy of a feral cat is 2 years.
The colourful blankets cover traps we picked up at the crack of dawn. Cat traps to be precise. It's a case of 'mad-cat-person' gone really bad!
That person has been hoarding cats for many years. Not in a confined place but out on an orchard and none of the cats were ever desexed or had any vet care. They've been fed in feeding stations and have been reproducing at an estimated rate of 3 litters per cat per season. We're guessing there will be hundreds ...
That person has moved house now and, apart from the tame 'house cats', left all those feral cats behind.
Without the food that they are used to there will be too many cats for the area and fights and starvation will mean a cruel end to most of the cats.
The task is now to trap as many cats as possible and save all the kittens since they will be able to get tamed. When they get older than 8 weeks they're too feral already. The older cats will have to get euthanized humanely. What makes this task a bit easier is the fact that, of the cats we trapped so far, the state of health is horrendous! Missing eyes and ulcerated wounds (from fighting), bald patches (exposure to orchard sprays), malnourishment, ... the list goes on. Some of them are just skin and bones. They are at least being saved from a slow death.
The poor creatures. Shocking to see how one stupid, thoughtless human can bring so much pain to so many innocent animals.