Help educate readers about feral cats-Tiger Ranch

(I did not write this-this came from a group I am in online)
Please send a Letter to the Editor to help educate the readers about feral
cats. The following news article covering the tragedy at Tiger Ranch is being
used to drum up hysteria describing ferals as rabid disease-carrying wild
animals.

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Health agency warns people to avoid feral cats
By Chuck Biedka
VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Saturday, March 15, 2008

Nearly 100 cats buried at the Tiger Ranch Farm don't pose an immediate
health risk, but wandering feral cats there could become a problem, an Allegheny
County Health Department spokesman said.

On Friday morning, health department inspectors visited the farm -- which
had between 600 and 700 cats and other animals until they were moved to other
shelters -- at the request of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals, said spokesman Guillermo Cole.

"The 29 acres where she operated was the only site that has a well," he
said. "All of the other residential properties in the vicinity have a public
water supply."

The inspectors saw some cat skeletons lying exposed on the ground, but most
of the dead cats were buried or in freezers.

At the same time Cole warned people to avoid feral, or wild, cats at Tiger
Ranch, as well as those that might have wandered from the farm.

People should routinely avoid stray or feral cats anywhere because it's
unclear if they have had all of their shots to prevent disease, including rabies,
Cole said.

Tiger Ranch owner Linda Bruno, who is known to numerous shelter managers and
customers as Linn Marie, was jailed pending a hearing. Officials said they
couldn't say if the cats were inoculated before she turned them loose at the
farm.

Domestic cats, skunks and raccoons are the species that most readily spread
rabies.

"There's no way for me to know if they had their shots or not," said state
Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser.

Several shelter owners said Bruno accepted feral cats from across the region
and even other states.

"Last January we sent about 50 feral cats. (Bruno) told us she would release
the feral ones on her property. She said she had 300 acres," said
Zanesville, Ohio, animal shelter executive director Larry Hostetler.

An Allegheny County property Web site says Bruno owns 28 acres, not 300.

Hostetler said Bruno always accepted feral and sick cats that are not
accepted elsewhere.

"She never took pets or healthy cats," he said.

The SPCA sting "comes as quite a shock to me," Hostetler said.

Fayette County humane officer Elizabeth Davidson is equally surprised
because Bruno showed compassion time after time.

Davidson said Bruno accepted the most sick cats, some with leukemia, that
were scheduled to be destroyed. She also did more.

"About two years ago a woman came in with a cat hit by a car. (Bruno) took
the cat, paid about $1,000 in veterinarian care, and then she gave the cat
back to the woman," she said.

Linn also took some abused dogs and cats that otherwise would have been
killed, she said.

Davidson said she has visited the farm more than once.

"It seemed clean and well organized" on her repeated visits in the past five
years. Her kennel managers have said the same things, she said.

Hostetler is thunderstruck.

"We've been there a lot, and there hasn't been a problem," he said. "This is
blindsiding me."

Tiger Ranch accepted sick cats, but feline disease strikes even the best
shelters, Hostetler said.

Last year the Zanesville shelter had to kill 150 cats stricken by a
fast-spreading and deadly disease, he said.

Dan Musher, development director for the Animal Rescue League of Western
Pennsylvania, said the league sent about 100 feral cats to Tiger Ranch during
the past two years.

"It was never very many," Musher said. "And our volunteer who did take the
cats said she never saw what's being reported in the news."

At least one shelter manager thinks Tiger Ranch's owner might have tried to
reach too far to help cats.

The Humane Society of Westmoreland County, in Greensburg, can handle about
100 cats at a time.

"That's about the limit," said executive director Kathy Burkley. "We do our
best, but we reach a point where we have to refuse to take them.

"I don't know how she could handle 700," she said. "The cost is
overwhelming.

"

It costs the humane society about $250 to vaccinate and neuter cats and
remove any parasites, she said.

"It's constant fundraising here," Burkley said.

Meanwhile, the sting is causing worry for cat owners near and far.

Last October the Clifton, N.J.-based Angels of Animals made the long drive
from New York City's suburbs to deliver at least a half-dozen cats to the
farm.

"We were assured they went into foster care," said spokeswoman Ellie
Kowalski, who made the six-hour trek. "Now, we'd like to know if they are OK," she
said. "We will drive another six hours to take the cats back if necessary."

Chuck Biedka can be reached at cbiedka@tribweb.com or 724-226-4711.

Images and text copyright © 2008 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_557419.html

Man feeding strays could face fines from SPCA

Don Grant says the local SPCA is supposed to prevent cruelty to animals, not promote it.

"I don't think they do - they are the biggest offender of their own law," said Grant, who's facing a $150 fine for caring for stray cats near his Lynnwood Drive apartment.

He said the four cats, which are about a year old, would starve to death without his help.

"They wouldn't survive," said the 63-year-old, who has three cats of his own.

"In the nice weather, I hardly see them. They're out catching mice. But there's nothing for them to eat at this time of year. I can't turn my back on these animals and let them starve to death."

Grant has been feeding the cats - whose mother was hit by a car - since last summer. He puts out food on the balcony of his ground-floor apartment and has also made them a cozy enclosure out of an old ottoman, to protect them from the bitter cold. Some of his neighbours have helped out by providing blankets and a heating pad. "Everybody's got dogs or cats in this building," he said. "We're all animal lovers."

But, on Jan. 26, Grant was warned by an SPCA officer that he could be fined for harbouring the stray cats.

Shelter manager Robin Kuchma said the SPCA - which enforces the city's animal control bylaws - gets involved if there's a complaint from neighbours.

"Nobody's going to condemn somebody for feeding a stray but if you're providing food on a regular basis, plus shelter, you're providing a permanent home and that attracts more strays.

"People's intentions are good - they're trying to help animals in need. But, we have to be respectful of other people."

Grant said the SPCA paid him a visit last month after receiving a complaint that he had too many cats in his home. At that time, he was looking after his late mother's elderly cat, which put him over the city limit of three cats per household.

Grant agreed to find his mother's cat a new home but, during the conversation, he also mentioned that he was feeding the strays.

"I walked right into it."

Grant said he has no intention of allowing the stray cats to starve but he won't take them to the SPCA either.

"They're overrun with them," he said."All they're going to do is kill them."

Instead, he plans to find the cats new homes, something he's done with other strays.

"I told (the SPCA officer) I'd be moving them by May."

Kuchma said there are probably thousands of stray cats in the city. And, if they're not controlled, they continue to reproduce at an alarming rate.

"One female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years," she said. "It's a huge problem."

Because Brantford doesn't have a cat control bylaw, the SPCA is not funded to pick up stray cats. But it does accept about 2,000 cats every year that are taken to the Mohawk Street shelter.

Sadly, only about three per cent are claimed by their owners, even though Kuchma estimates up to 80 per cent were once somebody's pet. "You can pick them up and cuddle them. You can't do that with a cat that was born in the wild."

While the SPCA tries to find homes for the cats, only 40 per cent are adopted. The rest are euthanized.

But Kuchma said that's a more humane end than letting the cats die from starvation or disease in the wild. "It's heartbreaking, when we see an animal like that, sick and unable to eat. They're just skin and bones."

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