The other night, a few of us from Ferris State decided to team up with TNR for some late-night cat trapping fun (yes, that’s a thing!). We wanted to bring you along and show you what really goes into the process of humanely and properly trapping and spaying/neutering feral cats.
After catching up with friends from the TNR Foundation, we get to work by setting up our traps together, taping the cages and writing in sharpie a number on the top of each cage. We place the black metal cages in the areas most frequented by the cats, then we prepare the setup with a gourmet dish of food is placed at one end of the cage, and we carefully rig the latch on the other side so the door stays fully open. To finish the setup, we cover a blanket or tarp over the top of the cage and around the handle, this helps protect us once a feral cat is inside and it helps keep the cat calm and secure.
When a cat enters the cage due to it being drawn in by the food, it steps on a pressure plate which triggers the door to close behind the cat. Volunteers from our foundation wear neon green hoodies so we’re easily visible during nighttime checks. We regularly monitor the traps and, once a cat is caught, we move it to the garage where padded trays are set up to make cleaning up any accidents easier overnight.
Once the cats are safely settled in the garage, we lift the tarp to check the cage number we labeled earlier. We record the cat’s characteristics and where it was trapped on our organized log sheets, this ensures that we return the cat to the right location after it’s been neutered. These nights are not only meaningful for the impact we make in the community with reducing the cat overpopulation, but it also builds friendships and bonds with the other people in the foundation. TNR is hard work, but it’s filled with laughter, purpose, and community.
Here is a picture of the Ferris State bulldog’s helping out the cat’s by cutting neon green tape and putting it on the cages so we can organize the captured cat’s later!
Here is an action shot of one of our volunteer’s putting the padding down in preperation of the cat’s being brought into the garage!
Here are the traps all set up and ready for a ferral cat to have a fancey feast inside, we make sure the cat’s are spolied and eating good!
YAAAY WE CAUGHT ONE! Here is a picture of one of many ferral cats we captured on a trapping excursion, this is when we took note of the cat’s apperence and the number on the cage we caught it in. We also took note of the location it was captured so we can send it back to it’s enviornment!
The TNR foundation is built on the backs of great people, creating great times and making great friends along the way. Be part of something much bigger than yourself and help the Mecosta County TNR now with their mission!
