The email:
Did you by any chance check out the Gaynor feeding station that's on your BLOG? I stopped by there tonight. There was dry food and fresh water on the east side of Gaynor, just south of the freeway. So, someone has obviously fed there.
FYI: A woman who lives in the house on the west side of Gaynor, north side of Los Alimo walked out and was watching me. I went over and asked her if she knew who was feeding the cats. She said no, but Animal Control had told her that if she sees anyone feeding the cats, she needs to write down their license number and call them! She was very upset because whoever is feeding is leaving trash everywhere and she's constantly cleaning up on Gaynor by her house. She had called AC because she felt the cats were dangerous for the health of her young son who plays in the yard and dangerous for her large bird because the cats are constantly coming into her yard. AC also told her that they would come out and trap the cats....but, you know how that goes!
If you know who's feeding, you might want to warn them that this woman is watching and will report anyone that she sees feeding.
6 comments:
Many feral cat caretakers create nuisances by leaving trash all over the place and by NOT spaying and neutering the cats they care for. This is extremely irresponsible, and it puzzles me why anyone is surprised that people eventually complain and call animal control. While their hearts may be in the right place, these feeders are endangering the cats and giving all feral cats and their caretakers a bad reputation. I have been feeding three feral colonies for five years.They are all sterilized, and I clean up after them. I don't leave rotting food, cat food cans, or paper plates lying all over the place. These cats have NEVER incited complaints from anyone. If you are going to care for ferals, please do it responsibly or don't do it at all.
Good for you oh perfect one, but you have not seen this location. There are only two small holes in the fence through which to place food. There are 25 cats. Three plates and a bowl would not be enough to feed the group. It takes at least 1-1/2 hour to feed. By then the plates get knocked to places where they cannot be retrieved through the hole and trash accumulates on the freeway side of the fence, not the sidewalk side.
Does any of your colonies have 25 cats and take 1-1/2 hours to feed? The location is isolated and dark. I certainly would not hang around that location for 1-1/2 hours myself, let alone a female feeder.
Four feeders I know feed over 13 colonies each. Try staying in each location until the cats finish and then clean up. Jimmy did exactly that, but his 9 colonies took 4-6 hours each night. How long do your three colonies take you?
Thanks for the advice, but until you walk in someone else shoes, be quiet. They do their best.
Of course they'll be considered "wildlife" and ultimately subject to destruction as such. That's the real underlying argument in Urban Wildlands Group vs. City of Los Angeles. Once designated "wildlife," one so-called invasive species can easily be wiped out to protect another so-called indigenous species. That which is invasive vs. that which is indigenous is as arbitrary as whomever is holding a millennieum calendar at the time.
I saw pictures of the location. Why don't YOU be quiet until you have walked in MY shoes. I care for 30 cats, and it takes me 2 1/2hours each night to do so. Over two hours every night for the last five years. In the dark. Alone. I repeat, if you are not sterilizing the cats you care for and you are creating a trash heap at the colony site, you are creating more of a problem than you are trying to solve.
Read the blog. Ed was not taking care of the cats. The caretaker disappeared. Right now someone has started feeding again due to Ed's blog.
But unless you are under 5 ft tall, you can never get through those two holes in the fence to retrieve the plates and bowls. I actually went there.
Whomever was taking care probably didn't have two hours a night to service that location.
The reality was those others probably knew the perfect way too but did not have the time. I have no idea how many of the cats are sterilized if any, and neither do you.
Just visit the site yourself. That photo was from Google maps and the area does not now look like that photo. It is also somewhat scary because it is very dark and isolated.
To the last poster: I read the blog. Why don't you read my post? I know that Ed is not feeding this colony...never implied he was. The original post mentioned at least several kittens (I think 12 or 15?)--that means odds are very high that there are cats there who are not sterilized. Get it?
My point is that it may not be in the best interests of a cat colony to create a public nuisance that draws attention to them and elicits complaints to animal control. Why not help ensure the cats' long-term survival rather than simply adding to the problem by creating more trash and antagonizing the neighbor?
Problems rarely arise with feral colonies unless feeders act unreasonably by not cleaning up after the cats and not sterilizing them. This kind of behavior costs cats their lives. Why is that so hard to understand? It may make you feel good about yourself to throw some food down for the cats a couple times a week, but are you really helping them in the long run?
As for the size of the hole in the fence, how much time the feeder has, and whether or not it's dark...use your head (and since you seem confused by this, by "you" I mean the feeder, whether it's you, Ed, me or someone else). How about putting the food on the ground with no plate under it? Wild animals do not need to eat off of plates. It won't take more than a couple minutes--not two hours--to put the food on the ground. If you are scared of the dark, go early in the morning or at dusk. Since you've had enough time to drive by this location, did you consider leaving a note for the feeder offering help with s/n?
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