For Glady Bell of the Stray Cat Rescue and Protection Society (SCRAPS), it’s been a busy year.
“28 feral cats have been captured, spayed or neutered, vaccinated and released back into the wild in Moose Jaw,” said Bell. “As well, 24 kittens have been caught and tamed and four are left to be adopted out.”
SCRAPS was founded in 2011, but began operating in earnest in 2012, Bell said.
“This is our first year, really, for getting out and doing some trapping, and it was only myself doing the trapping,” she said.
Through a partnership with K’N’A Pets and Supplies, SCRAPS adopts out the kittens it captures that are able to be tamed and housebroken, Bell said.
Bell recalled a particular instance in which a litter of six feral kittens was collected from the streets of Moose Jaw after their mother had been struck and killed by a car.
One of the kittens had to be put down, but the remaining five have since been adopted out, said Bell.
During the course of the year, she said three cats had to be put down — one with an irreparably injured leg, one who was too ill to nurse back to health, and a kitten who had received brain damage.
Bell said she is satisfied with the work she and her team of volunteers has done.
“With only one person actually out there and trapping, I think we did pretty darn good,” she said.
But, Bell said, she is looking to bring on additional trappers and “anybody who wants to volunteer” when the trapping season begins anew in March.
“City bylaws say we can trap from March 1 through to October,” she said. “So we’re going to be out and about again on March 1.”
