Trap, neuter and release cats in Rancho Viejo

WHAT: Educational Open House

WHAT IS IT: A program to educate the public about the trap, neuter and release of cats in Rancho Viejo

WHEN: Dec. 6, 2009

TIME: 2 p.m.- 4 p.m.

WHERE: 31 Pizarro

Rancho Viejo, Texas

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Email:tnrvolunteers@gmail.com

Phone: (956) 621-2244

RANCHO VIEJO – An "Educational Open House" Sunday will explain how a volunteer group is dealing with a large cat population.

"We’re going to have educational materials about what trap, neuter and return is, because people have all kinds of ideas about it so we just want to clear that up," said Jennie Johnson, chairperson of the TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) Volunteer Group.

The organization traps stray and feral cats and has them spayed or neutered before releasing them back into the community. Feral cats are wild animals that have never had human owners. Stray cats have gotten away from their owners or, in some cases, been abandoned.

The two-hour event, 2-4 p.m., at Johnson’s home at 31 Pizarro will include videos by the Humane Society and other organizations about the care, spaying and neutering of cats.

"We’re going to be having videos running from the computer onto a big screen that talk about feral cats," Johnson said. "We’re going to have brochures and information about our program and some materials about spay and neuter, and then we’ll answer anybody’s questions and we’ll have refreshments for anyone who stops by."

There will also be a raffle for a free spay or neuter of a cat.

A Brownsville Herald article in January said community members had been griping about "the screeching of warring cats, the stench of feral male cats and the possibility that the animals carry diseases." Resident Don Currie said, "They’re a big problem. They destroy the natural habitat, and they’re always outside screeching."

The January story also detailed how Alma Leal, who has volunteered to alleviate the stray cat problem on The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College campus, spoke to about 20 residents at a town meeting.

"I couldn’t sleep at night thinking that the university’s cats were being destroyed," Leal said. She explained the success of her trap, spay and neuter program, which she called a humane way of addressing the problem. The program returns neutered cats to their colonies instead of sending them to shelters.

Animal shelters kill 15 million cats every year in the United States, according to the Feral Cat Coalition.

Johnson said 100 percent of feral cats and 70 percent of stray cats taken to animal shelters are euthanized

"Feral cats are cats that are born in the wild, and so they are afraid of people, so they are not socializable," she said. "They’ve not been around humans."

Johnson said the organization has been trapping cats regularly since March, and has trapped almost 100 cats. Of those, 30 were adopted. If they were kittens, they were turned over to Brownsville PAWS, which works closely with PetSmart to adopt animals to new owners.

Many Rancho Viejo residents have expressed concerns about possible diseases carried by the cats returned to the community. However, cat diseases pose very little risk to humans, said Dr. Dean Joines, a veterinarian at Pet Care Veterinary Clinic in Harlingen. Rabies, thanks to a good vaccination program, hasn’t been a problem in cats for many years. Other diseases, such as feline leukemia and feline HIV, pose no risk to humans but can spread quickly through a cat population.

"Feline leukemia is transmitted in saliva," he said, "like if they’re getting in fights and so forth they are just spreading it all around."

Distemper and rhinotracheitis are airborne diseases that also have a high mortality rate in cats but don’t infect humans.

Rancho Viejo Mayor Roberto Medrano recently wrote in "Mayor’s Notes" that there is no single answer to the issue.

"Rancho Viejo is comprised of people with a variety of values and cultures," he wrote. "This is not a simple town, as small as it is, and so the solution to this problem should not be expected to be simple, either. It is an issue, in my opinion, that will require two or more approaches."

Medrano said resolving the issue will require patience, tolerance and cooperation from everyone involved and the continued participation of the TNR Volunteer Group.