Clay Center, KS-
One of the long term goals Clay County Animal Rescue and Education Center has is to be able to help the community better control the stray and feral cat colonies in the community.
A town hall was held Monday night at the Clay County Museum where Ron Fancella, Jeanna Fancella, George Murchison, and Janel Michaud informed residents that out of all of the options available, the best was the Trap, Neuter, and Return program.
Ron Fancella stated the first TNR Day was shortly before the pandemic and they were able to sterilize approximately 100 cats, however the pandemic put a pause to the program.
The cat’s will be humanely trapped, taken to CCARE and have surgery the next day with the K-State Mobile Veterinary Clinic, then later that day, they will be returned where they were captured.
Janel Michaud stated that they did discuss using local veterinarians, however they are very busy and it costs more than using the K-State Mobile Veterinary Clinic.
Fancella goes on and says that this program is grant funded and ran by volunteers within the community and costs approximately $20-$40 dollars for this program compared to the $50-$150 average cost of trap and kill per cat.
Along with spaying and neutering the cats, they are also giving them some basic vaccinations to help them from carrying disease throughout the community and will have their ears tipped so residents and CCARE staff know that those cats have been sterilized.
You can help with the TNR program by:
– Calling the TNR hotline with specifics about colony locations, size, and known feeders.
– Become a volunteer with the TNR program.
– Become a community cat care taker and help maintain the health of a colony by providing food, water, and shelter (With a feed agreement.)
– Help Educate your neighbors about the importance of TNR.
– Host a neighborhood orientation.
Currently, the TNR program will only be held in the city of Clay Center, with a goal to help get the feral cat population under control, however they have plans to branch out to other communities within Clay County.
Realistically, it is going to take anywhere between four and five years to get through the entire town before the community starts to see recognizable differences.
The next trap day in Clay Center will take place February 27th. If you know of any cat colonies in your area, call the hotline at 785-630-5656.
Janet Schnell covers state and local news for KFRM and KCLY. You can follow the KCLY or KFRM Facebook page for more stories.
KFRM covers news from across the state of Kansas, the Northern part of Oklahoma, and Southern part of Nebraska.
KCLY coverage area includes the nine counties of Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Geary, Marshall, Ottawa, Riley, Republic, and Washington.
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