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A cat’s meow: El Pasoans build shelters for stray cats ahead of cold weather [1]
['Claudia Lorena Silva', 'More Claudia Lorena Silva', 'El Paso Matters']
Date: 2023-11-26
Winter always comes early for the countless cats living on the streets of El Paso.
As the weather gets colder, it’s not uncommon to find these felines in car engines, dumpsters and other unsafe hiding places as they try to stay warm.
That is why a group of El Pasoans are volunteering their time at the Stick House Sanctuary in West El Paso to build and give away weatherproof shelters to residents hoping to help out their furry neighbors.
Volunteer Wendy Compton, center, helps make shelters for stray cats at Stick House Sanctuary. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
“We’ve all probably seen a bunch of cats around the neighborhood. I know not everybody likes cats, but they’re just like any other animal. They’re just trying to survive the best that they can,” said volunteer Wendy Compton.
The sanctuary is a wildlife rehabilitation and animal welfare nonprofit that in recent years began making and giving away cat shelters. Volunteers and advocates say these houses made of plastic bins protect the city’s kitties from bad weather and offer protection from predators like stray dogs and coyotes.
“We’re fortunate that our climate is mild. However, we know it gets cold outside in the winter. It does snow and it does rain, so it’s really important for animals to have a shelter that is maintainable and stays dry,” said Rachel Haddad, the cofounder of El Paso TNR.
The nonprofit organization works to trap, neuter and return cats to the community where they were found, a process known as TNR, to help control the feral and stray cat populations in the area.
A group of community cats that have had their ears tipped to indicate they have been vaccinated and spayed or neutered. (Courtesy/ El Paso Animal Services)
During the process, veterinarians surgically remove the tip of one of the cat’s ears, a universal symbol indicating a cat has been vaccinated and sterilized known as ear tipping. In 2022, the organization was able to TNR about 1,900 cats across El Paso.
Some of the felines are friendly to people but are simply used to living outside. Others are wild and have never had human contact before.
“TNR is not glamorous in any way, but it is rewarding,” Haddad said. “If you have a heart for animal welfare, it is definitely something that will fulfill you.”
Haddad estimated that there are upwards of 1 million homeless cats throughout the El Paso area. Some are looked over by colony managers or caregivers, who feed them and get them fixed.
Monica Garcia, left, and Cecilia Gonzalez, volunteers with El Paso TNR who care for about 15 community cats, pick up finished shelters at Stick House Sanctuary on Nov. 11. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
“I help TNR with about 15 to 20 cats, and my mom has about 40 cats,” said Cecilia Gonzalez, who picked up a few free shelters from the sanctuary.
On a recent Saturday, volunteers made and gave away more than 30 shelters, many of which are now being used by cats all throughout El Paso.
While some attended just to lend a helping hand, others participated so they could take care of the felines living near their homes.
“I came to learn how to make these houses so I can make them in my own home,” volunteer Patricia Schwartz, who looks over a couple of cats in her neighborhood, said in Spanish.
Schwartz said she hopes to teach her neighbors to build the shelters as well.
Patricia Schwartz picks up a cat shelter made by volunteers at Stick House Sanctuary on Nov. 11. Schwartz will place the shelter in her neighborhood for stray cats. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
Though the Stick House Sanctuary’s main goal is to rehabilitate wildlife, it began helping free-roaming domestic cats, which often pose a threat to small animals.
“Typically, wildlife rehabilitators do not like cats because cats on the streets kill wildlife. But, our perspective is that the cats aren’t choosing to be on the streets. Humans have caused this problem so the cats deserve to be cared for,” said Julie Ito Morales, founder of the Stick House Sanctuary.
Providing food, water and these relatively inexpensive shelters are just a few ways people can help care for cats. Most are made out of a plastic bin with a hole cut out that’s been lined with styrofoam or another insulating material. They’re then filled with straw to keep the cats cozy, and the lid is taped shut to keep large predators from coming in. Experts say it’s important not to fill these shelters with blankets, towels or hay, which can soak up water and freeze in cold temperatures.
Volunteer Alexis Gonzales stuffs straw into plastic containers that will become shelters for stray cats in cold weather. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
Another way to help the felines roaming the borderland is to keep them from having kittens through a TNR program, like Sun City Cats, the Humane Society of El Paso’s Mary Speer Cat Spay and Neuter Program and the El Paso Animal Services Community Cats program.
“It is a humane, nonlethal way to combat the cat population,” Animal Services spokesperson Michele Anderson said about TNR. “Cats can reproduce dozens of kittens in a year and then those kittens can reproduce and so on and so forth. So having them go through community cat programs will prevent them from reproducing but also let them live out their lives.”
Once a cat has been trapped, it is kept covered under a towel or blanket to keep it calm. (Courtesy/ El Paso Animal Services)
These programs have been the primary method of controlling cat populations in El Paso since 2016, when the City Council passed an ordinance allowing strays to be considered “free-roaming.”
Prior to 2016, Anderson said Animal Services often rounded up cats by the thousands, and those that could not be adopted were euthanized.
“What you see in communities that don’t have TNR programs is it doesn’t really do anything to that cat population,” Anderson said. “When you take a cat out of their colony it just allows more cats to move in. They’ll continue to reproduce and the cycle just continues.”
Anderson said that since 2015, almost 30,000 have gone through the Community Cat program, which offers free spaying and neutering to feral and free roaming cats. It does not help with trapping and relies on members of the public to trap the cats themselves.
Even with these strides, volunteers and advocates say there is still a lot of work to do.
“Ideally, every cat would have a home they wouldn’t have to be living outside,” Compton said. “But until that can happen, we try to try to help them and try to manage the cat population any way we can.”
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[1] Url:
https://elpasomatters.org/2023/11/26/el-paso-stray-cat-shelters-trap-neuter-release-program/
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