Why won't we come out & do everything?
Almost immediately after PACT Humane society opened its doors in April 2000, we were receiving phone calls from people all over the area who had found kittens. In fact, in our first year, we took in over 100 kittens! Particularly alarming to us was the fact that, being brand new, most people had already made numerous phone calls to more well-known animal shelters. Most of these kittens were found outside.
At that time, we made the decision to get involved in Trap-Neuter-Return efforts. A group of volunteers would go to the home of a person who had numerous feral cats and the volunteers would trap them, get them to the vet and bring them back. That first summer we sterilized and vaccinated 70 ferals. The following summer, 2001, we trapped, neutered, vaccinated and returned 200 ferals.
The problem was that the demand for this service far outweighed our ability to deliver the program. The waiting list for our help was always 1-2 months. By the time we got there, the cats were pregnant or had more kittens.
Thus, we made the decision to take the program from providing hands-on assistance to providing resources and support, thereby allowing us to reach even more cats through community education and training through the CORE Program.