Feral cat route challenges

Excerpted below is an email I received tonight from Phil, one of the members of our feral cat team. A dilapidated garage where we have been feeding over the winter has been boarded up, causing concern that we might not be able to find a secure place to feed the cats, and making us worry that some of the cats who shelter in there might have been trapped. I wanted to share this, as it is such a good snapshot of the kinds of challenges that we face in trying to ease the suffering of Regina's street cats.

"I went over to _____ Street and indeed the “holey” garage is boarded up. Apparently the owner or renter was forced to clean up the garage by the Fire Department. The good news is that the garage is still filled with junk and the cats still have access in there through a small hole in a window. There were other cats that were outside and are sheltering under a pile of lumber in the back yard. All the cats appear to be accounted for including the four kittens that were living in the garage over the winter. I counted 7 cats in the yard plus an 8th who appeared to be a pregnant female coming down the alley from the south. They readily came to the food and water that I left just outside the garage, but were quite wary.

Leanne and I contacted ___________, who live two doors down from the garage. They agreed to let us set up a shelter and feeding station on their property. We established a temporary feeding station near the shed at the back of their property and will gradually shift the feeding station from the garage to this new site. __________ are very supportive of the work that PFA does and have been very concerned about the cats in the garage and in the neighbourhood in general.

The situation is stable for the moment. The cats have shelter and food and still have access to the garage. Over the next few days I will attempt to enlarge the hole that the cats are using to get into the garage and will attempt to retrieve the insulated water bowls and shelters that we have in there. In the meantime, we can expand the shelter and feeding site at _________. We should also start trapping and spaying/neutering these cats over the next few weeks. We may be able to release these cats back in their territory, now that we have a site that we can start building additional shelter/feeding space on."