Dear Feral Cat Caretaker:
Who are we? According to the Humane
Society of the United States, there are
17.5 million of us, nationally, feeding
and caring for homeless cats and kittens,
referred to as feral cats and strays.
There are hundreds to thousands of persons
in our cities and local communities who
have opened their hearts and check books
to help. In doing so, many find themselves
isolated and misunderstood by their
friends and relatives and the communities
they serve.
Most of us work under the radar screen. We
do not want anyone to know who we are,
what we do and how many we do it to. We
crawl around in the bushes looking for
kittens and cats that are ill, and do our
work under some of the most challenging
circumstances ever devised by a civilized
society. Since we are caring for cats that
live out of doors, their lives are always
in some jeopardy and we are usually caring
for them on someone else’s property.
As it now stands, in most communities,
caretakers and issues with feral cats are
responded to in a fragmented manner. Since
we do not advertise what we are doing,
persons who would be supportive of us do
not know we exist. In many instances,
there are several persons feeding the same
cats and they do not know about one
another. There are persons in our
neighborhoods that would be willing to
help us, but we are hesitant to approach
them. We work in this manner, so as not to
put the cats and ourselves at risk. Our
anonymity, lack of support and fear all
work against us and those we care for. We
usually wait to contact someone when the
situation is out of hand.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH
THIS PICTURE? The time has come for us
to unite into a cohesive, well informed
group of people who will be able to help
each other. You might be a caretaker who
has 2 feral cats in the backyard or are
caring for 150 in an industrial area
miles from home. Our mission is to unite
cretakers in a membership with FCCC that
will show solidarity and a united front
for national recognition. We can begin
by networking, sharing our resources and
experiences and helping one another. By
forming a constituency, we can make a
difference in our communities, with our
politicians and our neighbors. We can
educate children in schools and in
various ways reach out to others. We can
do it, because we have been touched by a
homeless stray feral cat or kitten and
know how precious and precarious their
lives can be and how indispensable we
are to them.
THINK ABOUT THIS – Not one feral cat or
kitten would be trapped, neutered,
vaccinated, spayed or cared for without
the heroic efforts of a feral cat
caretaker. It is time for us to stand up
and be counted.
Join with us by completing the attached
form (click here for
form).
We will be conducting workshops in the
Los Angeles area. The time and place
will be announced.
All of the information on the Caretaker
Membership Application will be kept
strictly confidential and will not be
shared with any other organization or
persons other than the Feral Cat
Caretakers’ Coalition.
Thank you for being there.
Feral Cat Caretakers’ Coalition
© 2003 Feral Cat Caretakers’ Coalition
|