Controlling the Feral Cat Population, One TNR at a Time

A letter written to Mayor Fraim and the Norfolk City Council by a grateful citizen. In the Estabrook section of Norfolk, a large colony of feral cats roam freely. I know this because I’ve lived there for four years now, and I’ve watched their numbers rapidly multiply.  During my first summer in this neighborhood, a female feral had a litter of six in the crawl space beneath my home.As I made phone call after phone call trying to figure out what to do with the kittens, it became apparent to me that the cat population in Norfolk was overwhelming, and the local shelters were filled to the brim. The only solution was to foster the kittens until they could be adopted, and to trap the mother so she could be spayed and vaccinated. I did so, and paid out-of-pocket for the veterinary care: an expensive venture that set me back several hundred dollars. In the process of fostering the six kittens, I was lucky enough to be put in contact with SpayHR, and I learned that they would pay for the cats in my neighborhood to be neutered/spayed and vaccinated. This was such wonderful news!  My neighbors and I were all concerned about the feral cat issue, but none of us knew where to turn.  As a result of the SpayHR initiative, at least a dozen cats from my neighborhood have been sterilized and vaccinated in the past few months alone. Several kittens have already been successfully spayed/neutered,vaccinated, and adopted as a result of SpayHR’s help. Now that the local business owners who have been feeding this colony of cats have been made aware of the program, they are cooperating with the trapping efforts as well.  For the first time since I moved to this neighborhood, there is hope and help for the management of this very large colony of cats. Without SpayHR, these cats would continue to reproduce, fight amongst themselves over territory and mates, and be forced to scavenge for food as their numbers increased. I am so grateful and excited that this program exists, and I offer my complete support for its continued success! Spay Hampton Roads offers free sterilization of free-roaming animals and house pets in certain low-income neighborhoods of Norfolk. The program is funded primarily through grants and donations, and uses PETA’s  SNIP-Mobile, the Norfolk SPCA, and the Virginia Beach SPCA Neuter Scooter.  Please donate at ARTanimals.org to keep this program up and running!