Operation
Jack, FuRR's feral cat Trap/Neuter/Return (TNR) program has saved the
lives of hundreds of fearl and stray cats since its beginning in the
summer of 2007.
This program was born from our search for Jack, a
very special shiny black fella who was last from his home in downtown
Little Rock on January 1, 2007. We spent many weeks searching the
alleyways and basements in the area, posting flyers and knocking on
doors, and crawling undernearth abandoned houses.
We didn't find
Jack, but we did find a a problem. The many feral cats in the area
in need of spay and neuter. Suprisingly a number of them had
caregivers willing to feed them but with no means for pay for their
surgeries.
Who are these feral cats? They are free-roaming
cats which generally are one generation or more removed from being house
pets, and their offspring. They aren't socialized to humans and
only very rarely can be tamed, but their kittens, if caught young, can
become pets.
Found living among the truly ferals, may be the cats
who were once pets but have been abandoned or gotten lost and have
learned to survive on their own and joined a feral colony. These
cats, when captured can often be re-socialized to live with humans.
But their initial reaction to being capture is often frantic and they
can mistaken for feral.
While you will never be able to hold a
true feral in your arms and cuddle it, caregivers do develop strong
relationships with the cats in their colonies. This relationship
is different from usual human to cat, but just as precious as the one
you have with the kitty who has shared your pillow since kitten hood.
Kitten season in 2013 has been really, really hard to work through.
FuRR has received several calls daily from colony caregivers, cat
lovers, and people with huge hearts who have found
lost, abandoned, or stray cats and their kittens. Operation Jack
offers spay/neuter assistance for these cats that are trapped, brought
to our
clinics, altered, vaccinated, and
treated for parasites (fleas/ticks/worms). This practice
significantly prevents the birth and suffering of more cats.
Economoic times are hard and we have seen a large increase in the number
of cats being abandoned and left to fend for themselves and free to
breed. Operation Jack funds are low and we need
your help. We can always use financial
support, donations of food, and annual sponsorship. We are making
a huge difference, but we need your help!
If you are interested
in helping us continue our mission of reducing the overpopulation of
cats in Arkansas, please
Contact Us, or
consider a
Donation.
