As the summer slowly comes to an end, we are hopeful that the next few months will slow down with the intake of kittens. Just when we thought we had seen it all, a little over a month ago someone was going around town dropping off little black kittens.
They were apparently abandoning them in parking lots and fields. Some were not in very good shape and all were too young to be without their mother.
The Ark took in one of those kittens and she was terrified, confused and very hungry. Luckily we had a nursing mom and she accepted little “Onyx” without hesitation. Things like this make us so angry. Someone put a lot of thought, time and effort into doing this. Driving these poor babies all over town and dropping them off, knowing they were too young to be without their mom and that their chances of survival were not that great.
What about the mom? Where is she? Will she be left to keep reproducing only to have her babies taken away again? Luckily, these kittens were found, but there is no way of knowing how many were out there and if they all actually survived. Why not take them to a shelter or sanctuary? Yes you will probably get read the riot act for not altering your pet, but that is a small price to pay for doing the right thing. Imagine if that person had taken that time and energy and did something positive with it instead of hurting poor innocent kittens. What did they hope to gain by doing this? Thank you to the caring people out there who found them and brought them to safety.
There is no shortage of un-altered cats out there and we are seeing it more and more. We can preach but it seems like it is falling on deaf ears. There are so many programs and so much help out there, but yet people still don’t get it. When you move away and leave your un-altered cat what do you think happens? They find a safe haven and take shelter. They find food wherever they can. The females become pregnant and have litters that become feral and those cats start to reproduce. Many of them are sick and injured and do not trust humans, and why would they? Humans are the ones that did this to them. It is sad to think that we as humans are not better than this.
Right now the Ark is searching for a cat that knocked out the screen in a window and got loose. Every day and every night we search. We have set up feeding stations and have game cameras set. We have him on the game camera almost every day so we know he is still close by. He is eating the food we leave, but he is too afraid to let us help him. We have live traps set and there have been mornings at 5:30 we are letting coons out of the traps, but no cats. We will keep trying as long as it takes to bring him back home. We also see other animals on the cameras — a little black kitten by itself, a very pregnant female, these are just a few. We are trying to help them as well. How did they end up in this wooded area with no humans to care for them? That is a good question.
The cat that is missing is an orange tabby with white on his chest. He went missing from the Chandler Street area. We have put up flyers and we are asking everyone to call if they see him . Do not approach because he will run. Message the ark on Facebook with any sightings.
Thank you for your continued support and as always thank you for reading our column.
The Ark Animal Sanctuary is located on 101 Old Woodstock Road. To contact Lorraine Monfils call 532-7387 or check out their Facebook page.
