Feral colony no longer can be supported. Advice please?

Hi all,

My mother has a feral colony that she's been taking care of for a while.  She has a little over half an acre of land.  She's used her back patio to create shelters for them and feeds them twice daily.  She's only been able to get a few TNR'd because of her age(she's 70) and I think just some lack of understanding how.  So right now there are quite a few kittens she's caring for as well.  There has been a steady stream of cats that come and go over the years.

Today she got a visit from the township police.  Apparently the new neighbor across the street from her complained and now they are preparing to cite her and make her get rid of the cats or take full ownership of them.  She's completely freaking out and I don't know what to do to help her.  Ideally I'd like all the cats TNR'd and then relocated so this won't continue to be an issue.  And if she doesn't pay the citation, they'll throw her in jail.  The neighbor will not be reasoned with, he's a complete jerk so nothing is going to remove the problem from that end.  Is there any advice you could give me on how to help her.  Like I said, she's 70 years old, it's hard for her to do much but feed/water them and I haven't been able to really help because of my work schedule. I am however willing to pay for all TNR and relocation costs.  Even future feeding costs for a new caregiver.

I just don't know what to do for her, and for them.  The cop advised calling the local humane society, which I completely refuse to do, they'll just put them down right away.

If you're willing to pay to have them spayed/neutered and vaccinated, put ads up offering them as farm cats. A lot of people will take free altered and vaccinated farm cats. Put ads up at vet offices, farm stores, grocery stores, etc. Make sure anybody who volunteers to take them is willing and able to confine them for 2 weeks so they don't run off.

If there are any friendly kittens, take them to the shelter---healthy, friendly kittens have a pretty good chance of getting adopted and they likely won't survive in a farm situation.

Maybe these people can help.  Does your mom live near any of their offices/areas?

http://www.epaaonline.com/feral.html

Handsome Kitty said:

 
Maybe these people can help.  Does your mom live near any of their offices/areas?

http://www.epaaonline.com/feral.html

Click to expand...

No unfortunately that's a little farther north than what I am.  But thanks for the link, I'm going to have a look around and see if I can find any resources from it.

The TNR is problematic right now because I've read that you definitely don't do that and then return them to unfamiliar surroundings.  On top of that, I'm not sure how equipped my mother is to trap and take them for the procedure.  And the time table of when the township will actually give her to rectify the situation was unclear.

It just frustrates me that one person can create all of this stress and havoc simply because a cat pooped in their yard once.  Like seriously, their grass isn't anything to write home about.  I know, that makes me petty.  But seriously, calling the cops on a 70 year old woman because she feeds some cats.  Who does that?

Did you look over the list of people/organizations that may help?  One is in Lehigh - I didn't think that one was too far north.  there are also some organizations listed on the page who give help.  Some financial.

If you give me a town I can look for more places if you like.

Your neighbor would deserve getting over run with rodents after the cats are gone.