The township of St. Lawrence is a relatively low population area near a wooded portion of Berks County. The residents of this township are accustomed to living near a wooded area and sharing their yards with the occasional deer, fox, raccoon, and cat. After speaking with several of the caregivers of the local cat colonies, it was clear that someone had performed TNR previously in the general area but not recently. This left the caregivers with rapidly growing colonies and general health concerns for the cats due to a lack of vaccination and breeding.
Unfortunately, the lack of vaccination and the proximity to wildlife resulted in a rabid cat that attacked a man at his home on Parkview Road while exiting his vehicle one evening. Our Humane Officers detained the cat, and the man received medical attention for several scratches and a potential bite. The cat was brought back to our shelter for observation by our veterinarians and was tested for rabies due to ongoing neurological symptoms combined with the attack.
The test results returned positive for rabies, and we immediately started trapping on Parkview. We discovered several different feeders on the road, and they gave us an estimate of twenty to thirty cats seen between all the feeders. We also planned two free vaccine clinics for the residents of St. Lawrence to come and have their pets’ vaccines updated as a preventive measure. We were able to catch twelve cats from Parkview in the first couple of days of trapping, but we started having quite a bit of trouble with re-catching the same cats and -in general- catching cats. The caregivers informed us that they did not see many un-ear tipped cats, and right around the same time, we got a call for another suspect rabid cat a mile away on Jacksonwald Avenue.
Our original hope of this being an isolated incident was looking less likely at this point. We arrived at the following property only a few minutes down the road and saw a very emaciated brown tabby cat in poor body condition with drool from its mouth and a bent ear. While this cat allowed us to get relatively close, we were unable to detain it by use of a net. We began trapping at that property the following day, and the caregiver estimated that her colony was around twenty cats. On the first day, we were able to catch fifteen cats at this property, but the suspect rabid cat had seemed to disappear.
A few days later, the caregiver of another property less than half a mile away on Lynn Court called in to report a deceased cat matching the description of the suspect cat. The cat shared all the same markings, the bent ear, and looked to be our suspect. The deceased cat was brought back to the shelter to perform a rabies test. The cat tested negative, but due to the overall situation and concern, we began trapping in that immediate area and were able to TNR six cats over the course of a few days.
As we started having less and less luck at the first couple of properties, we were given a tip that a gentleman at the end of Jacksonwald Avenue had a sizeable colony. We made contact, and the gentleman was thrilled at the idea of having us perform TNR and would regularly assist with setting traps on his property. We were able to TNR sixteen cats at his property over the course of a few days. We continued trapping on his property for the next week but did not catch many more cats, and the reports of rabies suspects had since stopped.
In total, we successfully TNR fifty-four cats over the course of a month, and the caregivers that we assisted were incredibly grateful. One of the caregivers on Jacksonwald Avenue recently brought in a litter of kittens she had found and was thrilled to have the majority of the colony altered. She said that the urine odor is gone and that there’s almost no fighting amongst the colony now. She also said that she would work on getting any unaltered stragglers on her own. The support we received from the community of St. Lawrence was overwhelming. All the caretakers have a real and genuine concern for their colonies and are now in a much better position to keep them maintained and safe.
All the efforts conducted in this community were supported by a communication plan to inform the community about the issue and educate them about the benefits of TNR and proper cat colonies’ management.