TNR Homeless Cats
Along with other independent trappers, we have been actively working to TNR homeless cats in section 8 housing on the West side of San Antonio.
We have fixed over 150 cats within a radius of just a few blocks!
Some of the cats we were able to return as some ladies involved in Rescue were able to find volunteer feeders to feed the TNR’d cats. Some cats were so friendly that it did not feel right to return them and then we found kittens!
What are we going to do with friendly cats and kittens when we bring them to a cat sanctuary that’s for feral and unadoptable cats and we’re completely full?
We have been so lucky to partner with SPCA in Dallas! We just forged this relationship and they allow us to send 15 friendly, healthy cats and kittens each month! We drive these adoptable cats to Dallas and they are flown to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and Delaware!
Rescue organizations at these locations take in the friendly cats and adopt them out to residents. Shelters in these states are in need of adoptable cats and of course Texas has a surplus so this is a fantastic arrangement! We are beyond grateful to SPCA Dallas for saving so many cats in need all around Texas and giving them a second chance at life!
Speaking of flights to the NE…one of the cats who we rescued from the west side of San Antonio was selected to be the 7,000th cat flown on their rescue flights! This is the article we wrote to SPCA telling Smoke’s story:
Smoke – the 7,000th Cat Flown on an ASPCA flight!
Much like many parts of South Texas, San Antonio is infamous for the vast number of homeless cats and dogs on our streets and in our kill shelter. Bear Den Sanctuary is committed to stopping the suffering of homeless cats in our community by providing a forever home for feral and unadoptable cats and engaging heavily in TNVR.
While San Antonio offers free spay and neuter services in almost every zip code of the city, these services are widely unused and the work of fixing unowned and many times owned cats and dogs, falls to Rescue Organizations.
Smoke was found along with 3 out of 7 siblings in an area of San Antonio that is teeming with unfixed cats and dogs.
What Rescues are noticing in many parts of town are friendly, unowned, unfixed and unfed cats. We came across this problem so frequently, we started asking the residents of the courtyards about these cats who are running about, dozens at a time.
We learned that the cats have kittens 2-3 times annually. Children and well-meaning adults take in the kittens and mother while nursing, and once the kittens are weaned, they return the mama cat and her kittens outside.
This is the case with Smoke and 3 of his siblings. Bear Den Sanctuary fixed the mother cat and was able to take in the 4 kittens. The other 3 siblings were not relinquished by the owner nor was he interested in fixing the remaining kittens.
Smoke and his 3 siblings were spayed, neutered and vaccinated and sent to a wonderful foster named Anna Patel for some socialization.
Smoke was quite shy at first and not used to being handled or loved or even fed on a regular basis. Many animals we come across in these communities display food aggression because they never know how much or how often or even if they will be fed table scraps such as a spare chicken bone or leftover eggs.
Even though individual folks in Rescue offer to provide free cat food to the residents where the cats live, they often choose not to feed the cats.
Anna Patel took great care to love and spend time with each of the 4 kittens until they were ready to be sent to SPCA Dallas for adoption.
There are many more beautiful, friendly and unowned adoptable cats and kittens all over this state. Bear Den Sanctuary along with numerous independent rescuers and other non-profit organizations are committed to helping them all by spaying and neutering the ones who have feeders and finding homes for the ones who have none.
Education, awareness, and problem-solving along with helping instigate a change in values to elevate the worth of animals are all on our radar to help elicit permanent change for animals in our community.
We are beyond grateful for the tireless efforts of SPCA for giving hope to the hopeless, homes to the homeless and a chance at life to such beautiful creatures who just want to be loved.
