Konni Ellen, founder and president of Bakersfield Cat Control, demonstrates how to catch homeless cats humanely at the first ever Feral Cat Symposium held May 22 at the Kern Agricultural Pavilion. The goal, she said, is to "trap, neuter, and release" cats back to their outdoor habitat where they will no longer be able to breed. Photo by Louis Medina

Bakersfield Pet Food Pantry president Sherry Bullock, right, and board member Amy Sidhu, left, said their nonprofit has distributed some 11,000 pounds of cat and dog food to homebound senior, disabled or low-income pet owners since October 2009. The organization relies on donations from the community, they said. Photo by Louis Medina

Feral Cat Symposium attendee Yvonne Navarro of Bakersfield holds up a postcard from the Bakersfield SPCA that uses words and graphics to let the public know that in seven years, one cat and its offspring can go on to produce an alarming 420,000 cats. Photo by Louis Medina

Carol Raupp is the gift shop manager for local cat rescue nonprofit The Cat People. For the better part of two decades, the organization has been helping local homeless cats find homes, and educating the community about the importance of feline spay/neuter to control cat overpopulation and prevent the death at local shelters of more than 10,000 cats each year. Photo by Louis Medina

Bakersfield SPCA Executive Director Sandy Dralle holds up a T-shirt that urges the public to focus on feline overpopulation prevention through trap-neuter-release (TNR) efforts. The goals of the Feral Cat Symposium were to get independent groups to begin working together more closely, and to raise interest among local government officials about cost-effective TNR efforts, she said. Photo by Louis Medina

By Louis Medina

Catwoman would have been purrrr-fectly purrrr-oud of the well-organized feline lovers who gathered all day Saturday, May 22, at Kern’s Agricultural Pavilion to brainstorm on matters of stray cat welfare.

Bakersfield’s first-ever Feral Cat Symposium was attended by some 100 animal rights activists from all corners of Kern, and from as far away as Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Merced, and even Utah. The event was put together by the Kern Cat Coalition, a network of local animal rights organizations that includes the Bakersfield SPCA, The Cat People, Kern County Animal Control, OKRA (Orphan Kitten Rescue & Adoption), Bakersfield Cat Control, and others.

There was no mistaking what the day’s buzz word was: “TNR,” for “Trap-Neuter-Release,” which advocates argue is more humane and cost-effective than euthanasia for dealing with the problem of cat overpopulation.

“There are plenty of people who help dogs and a lot of people who help people, but not a lot of people who help cats. And cats are the ones that are helpless,” said east Bakersfield resident and cat owner Yvonne Navarro.

In 2009, Navarro said, she found homes for 15 feral felines after paying out of pocket to have them spayed and neutered. “The solution is not to get rid of them,” Navarro said of stray cats, who breed more than their canine counterparts and often live in colonies. “It’s to fix the ones that are there so they can’t reproduce.”

Doris Mack of southwest Bakersfield shared Navarro’s sentiment. Mack said she’s had 11 stray felines spayed or neutered over the last three years and found homes for six kittens. She was at Saturday’s symposium to learn how to trap a hard-to-catch cat in her neighborhood that has her worried. “She’s pregnant. I’ve got to get her fixed,” Mack said, regretful that the litter would be lost in a spay surgery, but hopeful because she’s found a family that wants to adopt the female once she’s fixed.

To catch a cat

Mack and Navarro both attended “Cat Trapping 101,” a workshop taught by Konni Ellen,   founder and president of Bakersfield Cat Control, a nonprofit that provides TNR assistance for a fee. Ellen’s presentation was eye-opening:

• Racoons, possums and skunks often get caught in cat traps. Ellen showed photos and warned her fellow cat trappers against these animals, which can be pretty hostile to humans.
• Covering a trap with a blanket or towel will help a scared cat to calm down and prevent it from injuring itself by trying to claw or bite through the wires of the cage, she said.
• Different types of bait to use in a cat trap can include anything from Purina’s Kit ‘N Kaboodle (“It’s the McDonald’s of cat food – it’s not the health food of the cat world, but they love it!”) to a cat toy sprayed with catnip and dangled from the top of the cage so that it lures a cat but not a racoon or other animals.

Other workshops addressed such issues as laws and pending legislation; successful TNR programs implemented in other cities by out-of-area nonprofits such as fixnation.org in Los Angeles and bestfriends.org in Utah; responsible care for cat colonies in parks and other places; and educating the local community about feral cats.

Just what is a “feral cat” anyway?

According to the 2010 edition of the California Animal Laws Handbook, a feral cat is “a cat without owner identification of any kind whose usual and consistent temperament is extreme fear and resistance to contact with people. A feral cat is totally unsocialized to people.”

That meaning was read at the symposium’s general session by Kern County Animal Control Director Guy Shaw, who said the great majority of cats brought into the county shelter in 2009 were not classified as feral by animal control workers. It is normal for a cat that has just been captured in a cage-type trap to be scared and hyper-vigilant, thereby causing people to believe it is feral when in reality it’s not, Shaw explained.

He also shared both bleak and hopeful news with attendees:

• In 2009, 78 percent of the 13,804 cats brought into the county shelter were euthanized. That percentage is down from a high of 85 percent reached in recent years, Shaw said.
• Other than seizing a cat to save it from living in conditions of abuse or neglect, animal control officers do not pick up stray cats, Shaw explained. Unlike dogs, he said, cats are considered free-roaming animals and there are no leash laws that apply to them. Therefore, the vast majority of cats brought into the shelter have been trapped by community members, he said.
• County financial resources are extremely limited in the current budget crisis. “It’s nasty right now,” Shaw said, explaining that Animal Control has had to borrow $200,000 to make it through the end of the current fiscal year and to keep from firing seven staff.
• Despite limitations, Shaw said, the shelter will hold “Adopt-a-Cat Month” in June, giving out special discounts and vouchers to make feline adoptions available for as little as $10 each—with an added “buy one, get one free” bonus thrown in for families that can take in two cats. “We want to do whatever we can to get as many cats out of the shelter as possible,” Shaw said.

To feed or not to feed? That is the question.

The crowd had been mostly receptive to Shaw’s comments until he said that one of the keys to decreasing the number of feral cats in the community is to “stop feeding them.” A hush fell over the audience at that point. One woman walked out after voicing an expletive. Bakersfield SPCA Executive Director Sandy Dralle questioned the propriety of Shaw’s remark, considering that the majority of attendees at the symposium were people who care deeply about cats, don’t want to see wild cats go hungry, and therefore feed them.

In the end, however, what prevailed was everyone’s overwhelming feeling of concern for the community’s stray felines, and both local government and animal rights advocates agreed that cat overpopulation control and TNR efforts will only succeed with the help of local individuals and grassroots nonprofits.

By the end of the day, attendees had identified such diverse needs as improving communication among the different local animal rights organizations and animal control authorities; increasing the availability of low-cost spay/neuter options for cat owners; reaching out in Spanish to Kern’s large Hispanic community; and taking a multigenerational approach in educating the community about the humane care of animals by doing outreaches at local schools.

Perhaps Rosedale area resident Devin Deuel expressed it best: “Taxes and fees and licensing are not going to solve anything … There are no magic answers.” Instead, he offered a back-to-basics selfless solution: “If you see a cat that needs to be fixed, catch it and get it fixed. And you know,” he added with a smile, “it’s not that expensive.”

For more information about help with stray cats, cat adoptions, spay/neuter efforts or cat/dog matters in general, contact any one of these members of the Kern Cat Coalition:

• Bakersfield SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) – Homeless animal rescue; pet adoptions; low-cost spay/neuter, microchipping and vaccinations; animal safety presentations; community outreach and animal advocacy. Call 661-323-8353, e-mail info@bakersfieldspca.org, visit www.bakersfieldspca.org, or stop by 3000 Gibson St., Bakersfield, Monday through Saturday.
• The Cat People – Spay/neuter assistance; feral cat care and feeding; adoptions; community education and outreach. Call 661-327-4706 or visit www.thecatpeople.org.
• OKRA (Orphan Kitten Rescue & Adoption) – Bottle feeding of rescued kittens; vaccinations, spay/neuter, microchipping and deworming of rescued kittens; adoptions; trap-spay/neuter-release of feral cats; assistance with cat owners’ spay/neuter when funds permit. Call 661-322-4830 or e-mail 2ndphlame@bak.rr.com.
• Bakersfield Cat Control – Full-service cat trapping for residential or commercial properties; cat trap rentals; cat/kitten rescue. Call 661-616-8182 or visit www.Bakersfieldcatcontrol.com.
• Kern County Animal Control Shelter - Animal lost-and-found/rescue; adoption; rabies control/vaccination; community outreach and education; ordinance enforcement and licensing. Call 661-868-7100 or 661-868-7144 (for adoptions), visit www.co.kern.ca.us/acd/, or stop by 201 S. Mt. Vernon Ave., Bakersfield, Monday through Saturday.
• Bakersfield Pet Food Pantry – Distribution of pet food and supplies year round to disabled or homebound seniors through Meals on Wheels North of the River, or to low-income community members. Pet food donations are greatly appreciated. Please call 661-619-2029 or 661-316-8265, or visit www.bakersfieldpetfoodpantry.org.
• Friends of the Kern County Animal Shelters Foundation – A group of volunteers who raise funds to help animal welfare organizations in Kern with low-cost spay/neuter programs, adoption fee reduction efforts, equipment and supply purchases, animal advocacy and more. Visit www.friendsfoundation.ning.com or e-mail fkcasf@gmail.com.
• Kern Humane Society – Assistance with low-cost spay/neuter vouchers; community outreach; fundraising; animal advocacy, and more. Call 661-325-2589 or stop by the KHS Store at 900 21st St., Bakersfield, Tuesday through Saturday.

Louis Medina is a contributing writer and board member for Bakersfield Express, and a volunteer with the Bakersfield SPCA.