Humane Society Gets Grant for Feral Cat Control

The Franklin County Humane Society as the lead agency with the newly formed Franklin County Feral Cat Alliance is a recipient of a $9,000 grant from PetSmart Charities to begin a trap/neuter/release program for the county's feral cat population.

This funding will allow for approximately 120 spay/neuter surgeries. This will only be the beginning of an ongoing effort to continue to reduce the feral cat overpopulation. The humane society will be working with Mary Ann Durrer, project director for the alliance, to train community volunteers to safely trap feral cat colonies so that they can be spayed or neutered and then released back into their natural habitats.

The alliance was created in conjunction with the implementation of this feral cat grant. "We have since been awarded the generous endowment from PetSmart Charities which is working in partnership with the Franklin County Humane Society, local businesses, local governmental agencies, and responsible, caring individuals to humanely address the critical issue of overpopulation of feral cats in our communities," said Durrer. "This is an effort to create an effective collaboration between community and wildlife. The method of ‘Trap/Neuter/Return' (T/N/R) is an effort to strive towards a compassionate goal of maintaining healthy colonies and ending the extreme overpopulation."

When receiving funds of this nature, certain guidelines and criteria are set by PetSmart Charities and have to be explicitly followed.  The first step in this process is to set a public meeting to inform those in the community seeking to have a colony included, and of the process they will have to commit to in order to be considered. To learn more about this, go to www.PetSmartcharities.org or call 1-800-423-PETS.

The first public meeting is set for Tuesday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m. at the fire station in Eastpoint at 24 6th St. The second public meeting is set for Thursday, March 27 at 6:30 at the Apalachicola Community Center.  All those interested in participating are required to attend one of these two meetings.

"We hope you will get involved and take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to help our community with this perpetual problem," said Durrer. "At this meeting we will run through the guidelines of the T/N/R program, answer questions, begin to sign up volunteer groups/team leaders and set a training schedule.

For those equally compassionate people in the community who cannot physically participate, we would gladly accept donations earmarked for this specific program to allow for even greater success with TNR in a shorter period of time. Please make checks out to FCHS-Feral Cat/T/N/R program and send to FCHS, PO Box 417, Eastpoint, FL 32328

PetSmart Charities, since its inception in 1994, in conjunction with PetSmart Inc., has helped save the lives of more than 3.2 million animals and has funded more than $70 million dollars to animal welfare programs.

"The board of the Franklin County Humane Society, The Feral Cat Alliance and PetSmart Charities looks forward to working with our community to empower all those interested to make a difference in the lives of our community's animals," said Durrer.