News
Feral’s Best Friends Collaborate, Project Dates Changed
January 12, 2009, 4:40PM MT
By Denise A LeBeau
Iowa Humane Alliance unleashes T-N-R-M in Oakville
Iowa Humane Alliance unleashes T-N-R-M in Oakville
by Denise LeBeau, Best Friends staff
That’s Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage! Mary Blount of the Iowa Humane Alliance with the help of Best Friends is bringing this approach to the small community of Oakville, IA to help with their feral cat situation. What was going to take one day, has turned into a four day event with the support of quite a few animal organizations coming together to make a difference. Date Change due to weather! The trapping was to begin January 15, - but will now be March 5th through 8th. If you’re interested in volunteering, please email volunteer@iowahumanealliance.org
“I’m on my way to a City Council meeting in Oakville, it shouldn’t be a problem, we’re just working out some last minute details,” Mary said as the whirl of rural highway echoed her words. Mary has been driving this project; she realized she wanted to bring TNRM to Oakville after following the flood coverage on the Rapid Response Community from the Best Friends Network. Moved by the altruistic work of national orgs coming together, she knew she wanted to help Oakville out too, in the best way she knew how!
Mary Blount with Hope[/image]
But helping the animals of smaller, rural communities is nothing new for Mary. Years ago, she saw an Internet appeal to rescue the animals of a closing shelter - after a 3 hour drive round trip, she had picked up 2 mamma cats and their kittens. She was hooked!
For a few years she volunteered as the spay/neuter coordinator for Johnson County Humane Society, where she met the veterinarian that would change her rescue trajectory forever. Dr. Jenni Doll had been doing TNR on farms for many years and with a mobile spay/neuter clinic they were able to do as many as 30 cats per day.
“Dr. Doll gives her all for animal welfare!” exclaimed Mary. Her dedication knows no bounds: she does the vet work for 3 shelters and has her own special needs rescue, Witty Kitties, Inc. After recently losing the mobile spay/neuter clinic to a fire, they are working to get a fulltime stationary spay/neuter facility based on the Humane Alliance model.
This inconvenient glitch hasn’t slowed them down one iota; as Mary worked out the details for the Oakville project she readily accepted the offer of Muscatine Humane Society to use their surgery room.
Collaboration Builds Success
“I’m very happy that this project has so many different organizations collaborating: Best Friends, Iowa Humane Alliance, Witty Kitties, Inc., Johnson County Humane Society, Spay Iowa, Safe Haven of Iowa County, and the Muscatine Humane Society. This is what alliance building is all about!”
In addition to these organizations there’s an individual providing the “M” as in “manage” for the kitties of Oakville. Nancy Hodges is a local resident that has been feeding and caring for the community cats since the flood. She has also kept the area abreast of the project and actively seeks out animals to be altered. Having a volunteer as dedicated as Nancy is the key to long term success!
The City Council meeting turned out to just be a formality and it is full speed ahead for Oakville and the TNRM project! But Mary wasn’t too concerned about any unforeseen complications, she’s worked with many local governments before.
“When I talk to officials and citizens, I never stress animal welfare, even if that is my main concern. I talk about benefits to the municipality such as cost savings, public health, and wildlife concerns. Often, the town just wants to get rid of the cats. Explaining the vacuum effect, that if the feral cats are moved more will just come in to replace them, is usually the eye opener. Most people hadn't thought about that, but it's really just common sense.” Mary has found that the information from Bryan Kortis of Neighborhood Cats to be very helpful when presenting to public policy makers.
Mary has seen the approach work again and again, and as she succinctly puts it: TNRM programs are just coming of age! Working with the public, she has found that most of the naysayers don’t even have to see the program in action to change their opinion.
“Once the benefits are clearly explained, most people will accept or even contribute to the process. Often, they feel a real sense of relief. We all feel better when we are being compassionate…and TNRM really is the only option to the free roaming cat problem that makes sense, and the public just needs the opportunity to have TNRM explained to them.”
This is certainly a new day for managing feral cats, and projects like this are a testament to the progress animal welfare is making across the country!
Watch how Best Friends and TNR changed the lives of the community cats in Randolph
Join the Feral Fast-lane and Get Involved!
Volunteer with Iowa Humane Alliance to help trap and transport the ferals of Oakville. To find out more please email volunteer@iowahumanealliance.org
(this project will need volunteers for all 4 days from March 5th through 8th)
For further information about Iowa Humane Alliance and how you can get involved, please email info@iowahumanealliance.org
*please note their website is currently under construction, but should go live in the near future
You can send donations to:
Iowa Humane Alliance
PO Box 5292
Coralville, IA 52241-5292
Support the Best Friends Feral Cat Program Click here to make a donation.
Volunteer or Donate to the organizations making the difference:
Witty Kitties, Inc.
Johnson County Humane Society
Spay Iowa
Muscatine Humane Society
Safe Haven of Iowa County,
image of Mary Blount with Hope courtesy of Iowa Humane Alliance
lead image of adoptable Lowell from Witty Kitties, Inc