Wolfpack....

TNR is really taking off here in Philadelphia, and new neighborhood groups are popping up in response. Here in South Philly we have a loose association of trappers who live close enough together to focus our efforts on areas with the greatest need.

During the WWII Battle of the Atlantic, German U-boats went out on individual patrols but, when a convoy was sighted, converged in what was called a "wolfpack". We are using that approach in trapping stray/feral cats. Someone in the neighborhood reports a sighting of either a pregnant cat, kittens, or even a missing housepet and the trappers converge on that block.

So far tonight I've trapped one feral; my fellow trapper got another and her kittens as well as a third cat. I think this approach is working and if that is the case needs to be applied across the city....

Just checked my traps--caught another feral, but this one was eartipped and was released. Eartipping works....

Excellent!

There is also a variation for the alone helper: using not one but several traps.

Alike the professional trapper living out in the vilderness of the old: not using one or two traps, but perhaps 10 traps at once...

That's fantastic! I think it's an excellent strategy especially with many people working together.

I got three ferals, one of whom I released. My partner got a feral mother, her whole litter and the friendly cat who probably fathered the kittens. All except the kittens and mom went to today's clinic; mom will go to the next one as she is still nursing.

I'll probably end up recovering some of the kittens, as they seem to have URIs and I'll be getting a supply of Clavamox. Fortunately, they're old enough to be started on solid food and won't need to be bottle-fed, and we do have a momcat who has just about weaned her kittens. The father is a housecat whose owner would not keep him inside. Poor guy is a longhair who was so badly matted we had to shave him--he now has a "full-body Mohawk". Needless to say, he will not be returned to his erstwhile "owner".

One of my ferals is the "double surgery" cat; he tested negative for FIV/FELV but had an unusually high temperature--he was given an extra antibiotic injection and will be held for a few more days before being released. One was a male who will be released tomorrow, the other was a pregnant female who will be held for at least 72 hours.

We've already seen too damn many pregnant females, many of them in advanced pregnancies. The upside is that we're capturing fewer "friendly" cats and are now concentrating on the ferals.

What we are seeing is overlapping urban colonies with different managers, and we're trying to get those managers to coordinate efforts, information-sharing and policies. Ideally what we want is a confederation of neighborhood-based groups covering sections of this very large city under either one or several coordinated "umbrella" organizations. We're working on it--one neighborhood and one area at a time....

On nights when I trap I do set out multiple traps. What's improved is now I'm working with another trapper with multiple traps, and we can "saturate" an area....

Originally Posted by ipw533

On nights when I trap I do set out multiple traps. What's improved is now I'm working with another trapper with multiple traps, and we can "saturate" an area....

Click to expand...

What a fantastic job that you are doing!!! Bless you for all your efforts and commitments to helping those cats!!! Not only does it benefit the cats, but I am sure that you are inspiring other humans to become better people as well. Keep up the good work!

For urban areas, that is a FABULOUS idea - and you're proving it out! What a wonderful, wonderful thing you are doing!

Laurie