Who wouldn't want to find me in their humane trap?
Many of the cats we have posted for adoption on our Petfinder site came from our trapping projects. When we started out doing Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) several years ago, the main goal was to trap the cats, get them fixed, and reduce the number of unwanted kittens being born each year. But always, we would catch wonderful cats and kittens in our traps, too, not just the ferals we had in mind and who wanted nothing to do with us. We’ve trapped Siamese and Himalayans and all manner of purebred cats, as well as tiny kittens that had never been around people yet still knew how to grab our hearts by purring and giving a head butt.
There are always unexpected surprises when you take on a trapping project.
The project I was working on for the past few weeks was no exception. Lots of surprises, including one very small gray and furry surprise.
I had an email at the beginning of the month about several cats in a factory warehouse area. With large semis going in and out all the time and machinery moving large pallets, the kittens born to the more wily old timers were not surviving long. Could we help?
So I set traps for several nights. The very first cat I trapped was a tiny gray kitten. It became pretty clear within the first day or so that he was not feral. In fact, he is very tame and rolls around for belly rubs as soon as you begin petting him. I don’t know how some of these kittens are so good with humans while others, in the same situations, are utterly terrified. I know this little guy wasn’t socialized and yet he loves to be petted and held.
The rest of his family, five other cats altogether, are also not acting like feral cats. They are shy, but they don’t try to escape and they don’t hiss or growl. What to make of all this?
Members of the family hanging out together after their trapping adventures.
I finally caught the last cat this past Monday. He is the senior citizen of the group at 2-3 years old. The others were all between 6 months and a year. Being the oldest, he was the smartest and had avoided the traps longer than the others. But hunger eventually won out over fear. While he was the most “feral-acting” of the clan, he still was not at all what I was expecting.
Another surprise.
This big gray male acts as if he was someone’s pet at one time and had reverted to a semi-feral nature after years of living on his own. Fearful in the trap at first, he now acts as if he is waking from a dream, remembering a former life where someone else took care of him. It is strange to see the transformation.
The little gray kitten, who is now named Samuel, will be going to PetSmart in the near future to find a new home. The rest of his family, after being assessed for adoptability, will go to a warm, safe, and very quiet barn. No more large trucks to dodge. No more being hungry and cold. No more kittens that climb up into warm engines and cannot escape. No more surprises for them. Only a calm, peaceful life on a farm.
Like little Samuel, every trapping project brings something unexpected. It gives me great joy to take those surprises and turn them into blessings for other people. Samuel will soon be someone’s loved and adored companion, as have many others that wandered into our traps. Who could have known how wonderful our traps could be, magically transforming the lives of all who enter?
Truly a surprise…
The oldest and smartest of the family and the last to be trapped.
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