Feral cats are the “wild offspring” of domestic cats and their numbers are increasing at alarming rates.  According to statistics provided by the ASPCA one cat and her children can produce 420,000 kittens in a seven-year period if they are not spayed and neutered. The feral cat problem is rapidly becoming a major concern.

Feral cats are the direct result of humans who did not take care of their pet cats responsibly. These house cats became wild because their owners abandoned them when they moved away or because they were left outdoors to roam free. (Cats should not be left unattended outside.) These careless owners also neglected having the cats sterilized so they continually reproduce with other felines in the area.

The cats quickly form into colonies and are most commonly seen living in apartment complexes, shopping centers and parks. Although they have returned to the wild, most of them do not fend well on their own. They generally only live two or three years and become the helpless victims of disease, starvation, and human cruelty. Others die because of predators such as dogs and coyotes or they are hit by moving vehicles. Overall their lives are very bleak.

The Heaven Can Wait Sanctuary will soon be implementing a program to solve this horrific problem. We call it W.A.R. (War Against Reproduction) and it will begin in October 2001.  The W.A.R. project will be a community wide effort to spay and neuter feral cat colonies. With the help of volunteers and cat rescue organizations such as S.O.S (Save Our Strays), the Friends of Feral Felines, the SPCA, Humane Society and F.L.O.C.K. the Heaven Can Wait Sanctuary plans to eradicate this problem. This is how the program works:

1. Cat rescue organizations will trap adult feral cats. We plan to trap 30-50 for the first clinic and later up to 100 cats a month.
2. They will bring the cats to Spay/Neuter clinic site on the first or second Sunday of every month.
3. Sites will be set up, as army M.A.S.H. units where a volunteer veterinarian will examine the cats to determine if they are healthy enough for surgery. Vaccinations will be administered and other medical needs will be tended to.
4. Cats will be spayed or neutered.
5. Cats will be marked to show that they have been sterilized.
6. Cats will be monitored until they awake from the anesthetic.
7. Cats will be placed back in their cages and returned to the trapper. The trapper will release the cats back into their colonies. The trapper will also act as a guardian to that colony providing food and other needs.

This program will be modeled after the very successful Feral Cat Coalition Project in San Diego, California. This project has been ongoing for the past nine years and has cut in half the number of cats that are euthanized each year.

The W.A.R. program is the most humane way of solving the feral cat problem in Las Vegas. As a manager you can get involved by alerting the Heaven Can Wait Sanctuary about a colony at your property. We may be reached at 227-5555. You can also help by beginning a “responsible pet owner campaign” for your residents and see that pet cats are not allowed to roam free and that they are spayed and neutered.  People are responsible for the plight of the feral cats and only people can put an end to their predicament. The Heaven Can Wait Sanctuary is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to making Las Vegas a “no kill” city.