# Where have all our ferals gone?



## pookieboy (Jan 7, 2011)

They're gone. They're ALL gone.............all at once, too.

Where is Simon, the Siamese? Where is Ring Tail & Big Gray & those 3 gorgeous longhaired black n' whites with their always startled looking eyes? There were others, probably about 10 all told.

Could some evil person have killed them all?

Any thoughts.................. anyone?

My sis & I are very sad  'cause we know Animal Control will NOT pickup ferals.


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## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

Could an animal charity have stepped in? We have some around here that neuter ferals and then re-release them when they are healed.


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## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

I was wondering the same thing. A week ago there were no ferals in my barn. There are usually 6 there regularly to greet me. I didn't think too much about it for a day or two because it was so unbearably hot - 95 degrees - and I thought that the heat had changed their routine. But their kibble went uneaten day after day after day....

Today it finally rained and it was in the 70s...I saw 3 cats. They still are not interested in eating. The only thing I can think of is that the stream behind the barn dried up for the first time within memory and they might have gone elsewhere to be near water...even though they have fresh water in a big bowl in the barn. Also, the hunting might be extraordinarily good and they just prefer to live off that. 
I did worry that they were being poisoned or trapped, but now that I have seen several, I am hoping they will all come back.


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## Whaler (Feb 13, 2011)

i hope that everything is alright with them pookieboy. perhaps your situation is similar to Greenports, some abnormal behavior due to the extreme weather.

my crew has been the opposite. with how much heat we have been having they actually are staying closer for the most part, not wanting to have to walk too far to get to one of their meals.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

A lot of the smaller towns in our area have embraced the TNR philosophy of cat management. I used to get three or four strays every summer living on my front porch and ducking under the porch to avoid animal control. In the past three years, I have had not a one, and I asked about it when I went up to the boro office to buy a new recycle container. The boro has a new TNR (this if the fourth year) colony centered at the Soldier and Sailors Park. They were looking for volunteers to help manage them and I signed up.

I also found out our next large city up the pike, Camp Hill, is starting TNR but the people working on it are a private based charity and are only asking for the boro to recognize their work and not persecute any cats with an ear tip missing, indicating they are in the program. We will see how it goes.

Contact your local boro, township or city for information about programs they may be supporting when it comes to stray cats. It could be you could help, even if it is just providing funds for food over the winter or even some physical work setting up colony homes for the winter.


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## pookieboy (Jan 7, 2011)

It's hard for me to believe that a TNR group may have trapped them all, fixed them all and then never dropped them back in their known & familiar neighborhood? 

Oh yeah, yesterday my sis and I were back at our family's home in another town. My friend, a vet tech at the clinic across the street from us, who feeds & shelters & does TNR for the ferals there [as do I], told me that she took in Buddy [a friendly stray] and Hobo [a VERY tame & friendly feral] They are both very ill & the vet is treating them both with meds. She says they look horrible & doesn't know if they will live. She believes they've been poisoned. Mama feral [who is pregnant] is severely dripping from her eyes so Barb puts meds in her food. Mama can't be caught 'cause she's so wily & won't be duped into going in a live trap as she already did once & managed to escape.

I am VERY depressed about this turm of events.


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## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

I can't believe this happened... the thought of having my ferals trapped during trapping season or poisoned intentionally or unintentionally are nightmares for me. 

This is terrible news, I'm sorry you have to go through this. 

Don't give up hope, though. I posted earlier about all my ferals leaving me for several weeks...they are all back now.


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## pookieboy (Jan 7, 2011)

It's been over a month since I first started this thread [7/20] and not one of our ferals has come back. :sad

On a happier note........Barb [the vet tech friend of mine] said Hobo & Buddy are all better now, and she has released them back outside. Even Momma is looking good. Too bad she's expecting yet another litter. :dis


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## Janz (Mar 26, 2012)

I am very sorry to hear that none of your ferals returned. I fed a stray daily for 6 or 7 months and he suddenly disappeared. After two months he returned. Maybe some of your ferals will return but the poisoning of cats is a bad sign. I'm glad to hear that Hobo and Buddy and Momma are better.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

Many local townships and private companies feel poisoning feral cats is the answer to "managing" feral colonies. No matter how much one educates these entities, one cannot convince them that managed feral colonies with TNR is much more effective as well as much more humane. They simply see the never ending spring return of the new ferals and declare there is absolutely no other solution other than killing them off. Of course, they are also resistant to contributing any money at all the the management of the ferals and I have had some building owners tell me buying a gross of rat poison is much cheaper than what a TNR organization wants yearly to manage a colony.

Until we can get overwhleming social pressure on these building owners and communities to shame them into participating with TNR, many colony managers have no chance to prove to these people that colony management is the way to go. Talk about a vicious circle....


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