I was elected a municipal councillor in March, so am becoming more involved in our community problems, but I don't live in the main village so don't always learn things at once. At a council meeting last night we discussed what to do about a group of ferals who have taken up residence behind the village hall. I knew there were kittens there - two weeks ago I almost ran over a group of five 3 month old kittens all lying in a heap right in the middle of the road. I was going to ask at the meeting if anyone knew who owned them, but it turns out they are part of the feral group, and already two have been killed on the road and one was torn to pieces by a fox. Anyway, some of my colleagues want to shoot the cats, some want to drown them, but no-one wants responsibility and they are all scared of going near them. There is one lady in the village who is feeding them.Of course I volunteered to do something! So tomorrow, Sunday, I am going to meet the secretary from the mayor's office, who lives near where the cats are, and we are going to investigate exactly how many there are ( they think around 15) and decide what to do.
I have two humane traps already, and I know the vet will give me a special price on neutering, which the council will pay for.
I think the schedule is this:
1. Make a flyer to distribute in the village asking everyone to neuter their cats at the special price I shall negotiate. And to say please do not feed the ferals while I am trying to set up a management programme.
2. I will set up a feeding station so I can count them and monitor them for obvious health problems.
3. I will gradually introduce the traps and catch and neuter as many as I can.
4. I will try and remove any small kittens and see if I can socialise and adopt them out (may be difficult knowing my record in the past) but possibly some vlllage people might want to help in this cause.
5. Keep my colleagues on the council calm and informed! Very important this as some of them are likely to take things into their own hands. The mayor is on my side, but I basically have only a few weeks to show some results before more radical (but as yet unspecified) action is taken. I know that in a village a few miles away they have caught all their ferals and killed them, I think not humanely.
Life in rural France can be rough and tough. Anyone have any other thoughts, I will be glad to hear them. Fortunately this is happening at a time of year when I am a bit more relaxed and free than usual, at the end of the summer season and before the Christmas markets.
I have two humane traps already, and I know the vet will give me a special price on neutering, which the council will pay for.
I think the schedule is this:
1. Make a flyer to distribute in the village asking everyone to neuter their cats at the special price I shall negotiate. And to say please do not feed the ferals while I am trying to set up a management programme.
2. I will set up a feeding station so I can count them and monitor them for obvious health problems.
3. I will gradually introduce the traps and catch and neuter as many as I can.
4. I will try and remove any small kittens and see if I can socialise and adopt them out (may be difficult knowing my record in the past) but possibly some vlllage people might want to help in this cause.
5. Keep my colleagues on the council calm and informed! Very important this as some of them are likely to take things into their own hands. The mayor is on my side, but I basically have only a few weeks to show some results before more radical (but as yet unspecified) action is taken. I know that in a village a few miles away they have caught all their ferals and killed them, I think not humanely.
Life in rural France can be rough and tough. Anyone have any other thoughts, I will be glad to hear them. Fortunately this is happening at a time of year when I am a bit more relaxed and free than usual, at the end of the summer season and before the Christmas markets.