Regina Cat Rescue Marks National Feral Cat Day on October 16
To commemorate National Feral Cat Day on October 16, Regina Cat Rescue (RCR) urges Regina residents to become involved in its efforts to manage the city’s feral cat population through responsible feral cat colony management.
"Feral cats are the same species as indoor pet cats, but they live outdoors and can’t be socialized to people,” says Silver Cherry, president of RCR. “Regina, like many communities across Canada, has a cat overpopulation crisis. Family pets are abandoned on Regina streets and left to fend for themselves, and cats that survive the harsh conditions continue to breed, creating an even more bleak situation for themselves and their offspring.”
Dedicated to working with cats and kittens abandoned on the streets, RCR works to manage Regina’s feral cat population humanely through Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR). The TNR program involves safely trapping cats, sterilizing them, tattooing them for identification and then returning them to their colonies. The colonies are maintained by RCR volunteers who observe the cats daily and provide shelter, food and water. Kittens born to feral cats are rescued, socialized in foster homes, sterilized, and adopted into loving homes.
“Feral cats are unadoptable and most animal shelters euthanize feral cats that are trapped. A successful TNR program will result in feral cat populations stabilizing and decreasing over time. Catch-and-kill creates a vacuum effect, where two things happen -- intact survivors continue to breed and new cats move into the now-available territory,” says Cherry.
Maintaining healthy feral cat colonies benefits the community by lowering intake for animal rescue shelters, lowering shelter euthanasia rates, reducing the incidence of homeless cats roaming in search of food and shelter, and reducing the incidence of nuisance behaviours such as spraying, fighting and mating.
Members of the public can help by hosting backyard feral cat colonies, donating food and shelter supplies, donating funds to the TNR program, participating in cat shelter-building bees, volunteering as feral cat feeders or to shovel snow for the feeders in the winter, and educating others about the value of feral cat colonies and TNR.
Throughout the month of October, RCR is holding a soft cat food drive for Regina’s feral cats and kittens. Our wish list includes canned cat and kitten food, KMR kitten formula, Canadian Tire money, cat litter and soft food. Donations can be dropped off in the donation drum near the food court at Northgate Mall in Regina. Pet Valu at 4662 Gordon Road in the Grasslands Shopping Centre is also collecting donations on behalf of RCR throughout October.
RCR (formerly known as People for Animals of Saskatchewan) is dedicated to rescuing abandoned cats and kittens, and maintaining 30 feral cat colonies around Regina.
In addition to operating a TNR program, the group works to humanely reduce the number of cats on Regina streets through fostering and adopting tame cats. The rescue is volunteer-based and operates solely through corporate sponsorships, fundraising and donations from the community. For more information or to volunteer, visit www.reginacatrescue.com. RCR is a member of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and the Alley Cat Allies Feral Friends Network.
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For more information or to set up an interview, please email:
Kim Belhumeur
Volunteer Director, Communications and Education
Regina Cat Rescue
reginacatrescue@gmail.com