There is a lofty initiative underway to address an overpopulation issue in Aroostook County. It is a five-year proposal that will break a cycle that has been going on for years.
“Ninety percent of my calls have been about this,” said C.J. Virgie, who has been on the job for one year.
Virgie is the animal control officer for Houlton.
“We have a huge cat issue,” she explained. “My goal, which is very aggressive, is to get all cats, owned and not owned, fixed. The feral cats [not owned] came from people who did not fix their cats.”
Sue Hall of Spay Maine is working with Virgie to begin the project locally.
“So many people were coming to me wanting their animals fixed,” said Virgie. “I contacted Sue and told her we needed help.”
Virgie called Hall at just the right time, as there was grant money available.
“C.J. is doing a great job,” said Hall. “What she is doing is going to decrease animal control calls and a lot of animal suffering. What happens is people will take in a cat, often times they take them in from the cold, but they cannot afford to get them spayed/neutered. The next thing you know that one cat becomes two, becomes three and so on. Then there are too many in their house. Then they are outside and all over the place.
“I think a lot of times it starts with good intentions,” she added. “But, it kind of ends up making a problem.”
With the “Help Fix ME” program, Marian’s Dream/Spay Maine vouchers and Cleo Fund vouchers, along with private money, Virgie has been able to spay/neuter close to 200 cats. That means using a population management formula, 2,000 to 2,500 unwanted kittens would not have been born in just one year, slowing down the reproduction cycle.
“The Cleo Fund started in Buxton in 1971,” Hall explained. “We have always had the Cleo vouchers downstate, but Cleo has branched out to take it up north. Some private funds are also ongoing, as well.”
The cat problem has not just developed, it has been here for a while.
“The “Help Fix ME” program is not advertised very much because they are handling all the cats they can handle with the calls they get,” said Hall. “But, they are a great program.”
“Help Fix ME” can be reached by calling 1-800-367-1317.
This year, Marian’s Dream and Spay Maine received a $16,000 grant from the Sewall Foundation to spay/neuter cats in Aroostook and Piscataquis counties.
“We are to promote spaying/neutering of cats at five months or earlier,” said Hall. “I had the grant money spent in two and a half weeks. That is how big the need is.”
The Humane Society of the United States gave Hall’s organization another $5,000 and Marian’s Dream also contributed $5,000.
“I spent each of those in a week,” Hall added. “The need is just so great and we are also trying to steer people to “Help Fix ME.” That program was not ignored in all of this. We cobble together all the little pieces we can and we can get stuff done.”
Hall said the donations were not just used in Houlton, but in Fort Kent, Caribou and a portion in Presque Isle.
What Virgie has already done seems to be a small amount, but compared to the management control formula, it has made a big dent in the problem.
The formula takes the town’s population, for example, Houlton is more than 6,100 people, and five to seven cats per 1,000 people need to be fixed each year to stay ahead of the problem and to keep it in check. Virgie has made a good jump-start for this project, said Hall.
“This is a small amount that have been fixed,” said Virgie.
But, Hall noted it is enough to make a difference.
“Now it is time to keep it up,” said Hall. “You cannot just do it [spay/neuter] one year. If you keep doing it, you can get it under control in short order.”
Hall noted that southern Maine has good spay/neuter programs and that translate to some cat shelters’ intakes being down more than 50 percent for cats.
“It works,” said Hall. “Now, C.J. will have to see if she can keep this up. She is going to make a huge improvement. C.J. is doing great things.
“It takes a community and someone in the community, like C.J., who is willing to do the hard work,” Hall added. “She is animal control, but she has not been paid for a lot of the work she has done. She has put in a lot of volunteer hours.”
A kitten litter can overwhelm many people, so their inhumane answer is to toss it alongside the roadway. For example, Virgie picked up a kitten under six months old, which was either thrown out of a vehicle or run over. After being cared for at the Houlton Humane Society for about a week, passed away due to her injuries.
“It had a dislocated jaw and a dislocated hip,” Virgie said. “People are finding they do not know what to do with them. So, that is what they do. They toss them. Sadly, this was the second cat in a week that was tossed out. The other nearly froze to death before being found.”
Then, there is another area to address, the feral cat communities.
“I have not even started the ferals yet,” said Virgie.
A feral is defined as a cat that lives outdoors and it essentially does not belong to anyone. Feral cats are the result of a domestic cat being abandoned or lost and left to fend for itself. The offspring of the domestic (now considered feral) cat are usually never handled by people. Many times, when approached by people, they will hiss out of fright.
“If a feral cat was owned, and some were, they will start remembering people,” Virgie explained. “They may be able to go to the shelter for adoption. But, if they are a second generation born in the wild, they are wild.”
The best option for a “wild” cat is to fix them and give them a rabies shot, release them back into the wild with feral cat houses and feeders. They may not live a long life due to hazards in the wild, but they are not producing any more offspring.
Now that Virgie has her plan in action, she is looking for local volunteers to help her. She needs people to donate cat kennels or dog crates; people to transport the cats to their surgery and others to foster the cats after surgery, especially the feral.
“We need foster help to care for post-op cats that are feral because they cannot go right back out,” Virgie explained. “They need a few days of care. They need to be watched to make sure the stitches do not come out.”
“Help Fix ME” is ongoing funding, but with the Gov. LePage’s cutbacks in the budget, that program is being threatened.
“I hope we save it,” said Hall who testified recently in Augusta.
The funding comes through the pet food surcharge. None of the “Help Fix ME” funding comes from income tax. It works out to be 36 cents per year for pet owning households. That surcharge helps spay/neuter almost 3,000 cats/dogs a year.
“It is mostly cats since we do not have a dog overpopulation,” said Hall. “If people want to save that surcharge in the budget they have to write to the appropriations and agricultural committees or their local legislators who can help them with this.”
Virgie said she is pretty much on track with her five-year goal.
“We are getting calls already and it isn’t even spring,” she said.
To reach Virgie call the Houlton Police Department at 532-2287.
