Saving St. Bernard’s Cats: How TNR Is Changing Everything

Dixie: 00:00:02

Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the

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people and rescues making a

difference in the lives of animals.

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Today we're shining the spotlight

on one of the most impactful

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community cat efforts in St.

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Bernard Parish, Louisiana.

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I'm joined by Robbie Denny of the St.

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Bernard Parish Community Cat

Coalition, the driving force

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behind the SNP and TIP TNR program.

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We're gonna talk about how this initiative

is reducing the stray cat population,

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improving community health and giving

these animals a safer, kinder future.

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Hi Robbie,

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Welcome to the show.

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I am looking forward to talking

about TNR in the parish.

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Robbie: Oh, good.

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Dixie: Tell me a little

bit about yourself.

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How did you get started doing this?

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Robbie: I moved to St.

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Bernard Parish almost seven years ago,

and I one of the reasons I left Jefferson

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Parish was 'cause I had a neighbor

that didn't like my cats and gave me

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problems and actually trapped one of

my cats and dumped it in City Park.

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I did get him back

because I had him chipped.

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So when we decided we were moving, we were

looking for a school for my son to go to.

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That was number one.

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And number two, I wanted to, for make

sure I had more cat friendly neighbors.

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And so when we pulled out

to this house, we bought.

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I saw cats running

around the neighborhood.

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I said, oh, these must be cat

friendly people or cats here.

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And so we talked to the neighbors.

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Yeah, the cats are fine.

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They don't really bother us.

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And I was like, okay.

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So I took it on surface level and

didn't think anything about it.

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And we bought the house and we

moved in and I suddenly realized

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I was living in the middle of

a cat colony of about 20 cats.

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We're breeding, and I was like, okay,

I didn't know this was going on.

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And then we started doing things

like, gonna McDonald's or Popeye's

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pick up food and had kittens jumping

out of the bushes, and I'm going,

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what on earth is going on here?

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I've never seen this.

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I've never seen anything

like a cat population in St.

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Bernard Parish.

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And so about eight or nine

months later, I'd had.

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Two female cats give birth to two

different letters each on my property.

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And I was talking to my neighbor, she

says, yeah, they put the kittens over

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here and my dog kills the kittens,

which is very traumatic for her, but she

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doesn't know if when they've done this,

she doesn't know when the kitten cat has

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the decided put the kittens over there.

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And I didn't know what else to do.

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I got on Facebook and I started

begging and pleading for help.

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And between the Jefferson Parish

community, cat, people on Facebook

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Juliana, and Trap Dat Cat, they

stepped up and they helped me

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and we got all the cats fixed.

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So after that, life was good.

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I was like.

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My problem's fixed.

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In the meantime, since I had asked

for help somewhere along the lines,

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I was on every rescue group every

lost and found group, everything.

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And so about for another year

and a half, I sat there watching

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people with same problem.

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I have beg and scream and cry for help.

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I really didn't wanna step up.

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I really didn't wanna do anything, but I

did, and I got together with some of the

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ladies who were trapping in the parish.

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Some of the people who cared about the

cats, they maybe weren't necessarily

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trappers, but they cared about the cats.

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And I put together a plan.

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I come from a background of nonprofit.

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I don't work nonprofit right now.

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I'm in administration but I spent 20

years in nonprofit fundraising and I was

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director development for over 12 years.

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And so I understand the strategies

of how to make a program like

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this work, and I was like.

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These ladies were running

themselves absolutely into the

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ground because it was all on them.

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They did it all that somebody would

call 'em and complain about a cat.

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They would go, they would trap the cat.

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They would, how's the cat overnight?

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They would clean the cat's cage,

they'd change the cats, , and then

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they would load up anywhere from

six to 15 cats in their personal

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cars and take 'em to the vet.

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And this took a toll on them

personally, their health, their cars.

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And so my plan was to actually.

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Bring them some organization and some

structure to disperse some of this.

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And so that's what we did.

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We created, the St.

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Bernard Community Cat Coalition, and the

concept behind the Community Cat Coalition

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is that no few people are gonna do this.

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No few people are gonna

fix this problem ever.

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No small organization.

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Like Snip and tip, which is the

organization we created specifically

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to do this is gonna fix this problem.

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We've got two different

entities that , we are managing.

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One is Snip and tip, which was started

later, which is a nonprofit solely

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focused on trap neuter, release.

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Okay.

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The other is Community Cat Coalition,

and the concept behind the Community

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Cat Co Coalition is the way to fix

this problem is everybody in the parish

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has to work on fixing this problem.

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It can't be one little

group's problem, okay?

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And it isn't one little group's

problem because it is everybody's

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problem in this parish.

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The people who hate cats.

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Don't want to be living in a

colony of 20 breeding cats.

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They complain.

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They scream, they holler,

they get the cats removed.

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More cats come back 'cause

it's called the vacuum effect.

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Always gonna happen unless you fix them.

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The only way to fix the

problem is to fix the cats.

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The, it's a parish problem.

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I'm sorry.

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There's no way the parish ducks

out of this being the parish

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parish government problem.

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It's a quality of life

issue for the entire parish.

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It detracts from the parish.

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It hinders tourism, it

hinders business operations.

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It hinders real estate values.

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Okay.

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I've heard stories about people

who were trying to sell houses,

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and then there's a colony three

doors down and the people come by.

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They're supposed to have an appointment.

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They see the cats, they leave.

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So the point is we have to get the

pet cat population under control.

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Cat lovers are all in because

they care about the cats and

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they want the cats taken care of.

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They want 'em to have as good a life

as they can have, even if they're

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feral and you can't touch them.

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Cat haters,

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we hear from them now and then.

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They really ought to be all in on this

too, because if you hate cats, you

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should be wanting to stop the problem.

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And unfortunately, a lot of cat haters

skip right over fixing the problem.

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Doesn't work.

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We still have a cat

overpopulation problem.

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Because what happens is.

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When you get rid of the cats out

of a particular spot and they, it

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creates a vacuum effect and okay,

so you got rid of those cats.

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More cats come and they

breed, and the more you limit

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that, the faster they breed.

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Cats are very territorial, and if

you stop the breeding, the colony

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will stabilize and through natural

attrition will eventually be reduced.

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And I can tell you, I started with 20

cats, almost practically outside my door.

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And I'm down to six

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Things happen to 'em.

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There's no, I have no control over that.

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But the cats I have keep the other

cats from come and live on my porch.

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. Dixie: I'm glad you mentioned that too,

about the cat haters because the other day

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I actually met a lady, she has been doing

TNR for about 15 years, and so of course

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I'm at a cat function as a cat lover.

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I'm gonna approach that from the

point of view, that we care for cats.

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And she told me no, she does TNR

because she does not like cats.

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And it does put a whole new

perspective on it because I

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totally agree with you on that.

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I agree with her on that too.

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If you do not like cats, don't call

the parish and complaint about 'em.

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You could do something yourself that

doesn't involve hurting the animals

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or trapping and dumping the animals.

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If you're gonna put the effort into

trapping them to go dump 'em, you

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might as well go trap 'EM and TNR 'em.

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Robbie: Great.

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Because it solve them.

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It solves

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Dixie: the problem.

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Yes.

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Robbie: And so that's our goal

with the Community Cat Coalition

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is to get everybody on board.

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And we're working with the shelter.

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They've had turnover at the

shelter, which has complicated

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little things a little bit.

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Beth, who's the interim

over there, is wonderful.

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She really is wonderful.

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And she's got the TNR program.

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With the shelter up and running

we do surgeries with the shelter.

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We also do surgeries with

Paris Road Animal Hospital.

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Dr.

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Chris is absolutely fabulous.

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They give us anywhere from 25 to 35

appointments every other Wednesday.

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He is very dedicated to us

but it all still costs money.

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Okay.

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It costs money and that's where

the businesses need to step up.

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That's where the parish needs to step up.

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There needs to be money and

funds and education allocated

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towards TNR in this parish.

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A lot of people don't fix cats.

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Not because they don't care, but

sometimes 'cause they can't afford it.

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Other times because they really

don't understand a cat's nature.

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They get this cute little kitten.

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It's a female kitten and, oh,

I'm just gonna keep it in the

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house, so I don't need to fix it.

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It's never gonna go outside.

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I'm just gonna keep it in the house.

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And it'll be fine.

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That kitten hits teenager.

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That cat is gonna find

a way out of your house.

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And when it comes back

to coming back pregnant.

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And then people are all

surprised and shocked.

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It came back pregnant now where I now

I gotta find homes for the kittens.

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Welcome to the club.

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We have literally got thousands of

kittens in Louisiana that need homes.

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We do not have thousands of

homes willing to take kittens.

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So what are you gonna do?

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You gotta stop.

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You gotta stop the breeding.

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And so pet owners have to step

up too and take responsibility.

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And whether they go through a low cost

program like ours, or whether they go

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to a private vet, they have to start

understanding the impact that they have.

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Male cats, people, oh, I'm

just gonna fix the females

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because males can't have babies.

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But yeah, a female cat

in South Louisiana can.

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Have eight to 10 lit a year.

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There, it's crazy because we

don't really have a winter.

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Okay?

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So they can have six litters a year and

they can have anywhere from one to 12

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kittens, a litter, and that's a, that

turns into a huge number very quickly.

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And male CAT can literally impregnate

hundreds of cats every year.

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They can impregnate five cats a day.

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So if you don't fix the male,

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you're just making the problem worse,

because if they're not fix, they're not

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breeding your female, they're going around

the corner breeding the next female.

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A lot of people don't realize that a male

cat will wander up to three miles away

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from their home to find a cat to breed.

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Dixie: Yes.

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And , they're the , ones that are gonna

be, more of a nuisance on your property.

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The females will go into heat, and when

the females go into heat, though, that's

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gonna be for a very short period of time.

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But the males are always gonna be males.

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Robbie: And they're always gonna be

spraying and fighting and hunting.

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So if you fix that, male, and I can

tell you because I have a weird colony,

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my cat colony, I have two females.

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And the rest of 'em are males.

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And then most that's reversed, most

colonies have only a few males.

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But the males once you fix them,

most of them stop spraying.

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Most of them stop wandering very far.

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They stop fighting.

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So you're not having these cats

show up on your porch with these

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eyes dangling out of their head

going, oh God, what do I do now?

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I can't even touch it.

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It puts people in horrible positions,

but even if it's your own cat and it's

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male, okay, now your own cat has got out.

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And it's decided it's gonna travel two

miles down the road to go find a female.

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And the family's heartbroken

because they love this cat.

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And now this cat is gone and lost.

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Maybe he comes back and maybe he

doesn't, so pet owners who love

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cats need to get on board too.

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And this is where, we need

education done in the parish.

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We need lots of education done.

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And this is one of the areas I'd like

to see the parish actually helping us.

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There's lots of ways we could do programs.

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I have door flyers that can

be put on people's doorknobs.

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I had those made up with the intents

of having of getting involved with the

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school and maybe having high schoolers

help us do community service and.

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Pass out community information.

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The parish has a channel.

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We could be doing TNR education on there.

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They could be putting this

information on their parish website.

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There's lots of things the parish

could do working with us and and

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that doesn't cost the parish money.

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Beyond costing money.

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Now, I'm not saying I won't ever

ask the parish for money because

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our shelter needs more money.

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Our shelter needs more

money designated to TNR.

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They need more money overall, but

they need more money designated

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to TNR so that they can.

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Help get this problem under control.

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I keep being told, oh, y'all

are doing the work of God.

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This is wonderful.

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Thank you so much for doing this.

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I appreciate your thanks, but if you're

really grateful, I need you to step up.

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And I've met with the administration.

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I've met with parish council.

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Parish council was very supportive.

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Unfortunately my meeting with

parish council came right before

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the staff change at the shelter.

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So things got a little muddied.

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I actually am after the administration

of this parish, the parish council

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itself, to sign our Community Cat

Coalition agreement, and it's a

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very specific agreement that's drawn

up that states the intent to be

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dedicated to solving this problem.

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And to attend at least two meetings

a year of the Community Cat Coalition

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where ideas can be brought forth,

action items can be created, and then

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we can go forth and we can have a

plan and we can actually implement.

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I haven't gotten those agreements yet.

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I'm still working on it.

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My next step we have several businesses

that support us, which are absolutely

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wonderful to us, and we appreciate that.

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But one of my next steps now that the

chamber of Commerce has a new director

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is I'll be reaching out to them

because we need to make a presentation.

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To a large group of businesses,

the only place I know that they

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gather, you get 'em in one place.

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But we need more businesses behind

the Community Cat Coalition,

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understanding that if you want the

nuisances around your business to stop.

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To then you need to be behind TNR.

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We went through and Barbara

Myers is our vice president.

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And I can tell you I've been

dealing with some personal stuff..

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I have not been able to do a lot of

things that I've done in the past.

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And Barbara has been holding this

thing together all by herself.

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Her and Becky.

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. Becky takes her everywhere

she goes, and those two work

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together as an amazing team.

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And, but.

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Barbara schedules our appointments.

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She talks to the people, she does

the education, she lend the traps.

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And we need the businesses to get

involved and we need the businesses

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to donate money, and we need the

businesses to help us find trappers.

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Some of these people do.

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Okay.

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We have one of the auto

shops down on Paris Road has

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made over a couple thousand dollars

donation because she's paying

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for her own cats to be trapped.

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It costs us approximately

$65 on average to fix a cat.

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Okay, so we have to fundraise for that.

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I'm not rich, can't come outta my pocket.

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So we have to fundraise to get that.

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And this lady said, I'm gonna give

it to you every cat you fixed for me.

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I'm giving it to you.

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And so we fixed all her cats.

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Barbara and Becky, somebody

reached out to them.

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There was a huge problem at the.

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Oil shop.

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Okay.

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They were told there was

15 cats there at 35 cats.

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Now $65 per cat.

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35 cats do the math.

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We spent thousands of

dollars fixing those cats.

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They went back because there

was still two or three left that

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they knew they hadn't gotten yet.

326

: 00:19:11

They had taken about a three month hiatus

. And they went back to check to see if

327

: 00:19:16

they could get those remaining few cats to

make sure that colony was all cleaned up.

328

: 00:19:22

Cats were gone.

329

: 00:19:24

So they start asking

what happened to the cat?

330

: 00:19:28

Where's the cat?

331

: 00:19:30

And.

332

: 00:19:32

They finally found out one of the

owners paid somebody in a white pickup

333

: 00:19:37

truck, $10 a cat to haul off these cats.

334

: 00:19:41

Wow.

335

: 00:19:42

So did you ever find them?

336

: 00:19:43

Where are these cats?

337

: 00:19:45

No, we never found the cats.

338

: 00:19:47

I have no doubt.

339

: 00:19:48

The cats are dead now.

340

: 00:19:51

In six months when the.

341

: 00:19:53

shop.

342

: 00:19:53

is covered and another 30

cats, they better not call us.

343

: 00:20:00

Were you able to get law

enforcement involved with that?

344

: 00:20:04

I had a meeting scheduled with Sheriff

Palmer a few times and because of.

345

: 00:20:11

My personal life and issues, I had

to cancel it a number of times.

346

: 00:20:15

It's still on my list.

347

: 00:20:17

Once I can get settled down

and get things going again.

348

: 00:20:21

We have one of our members who we

informally met with Sheriff Palmer, who

349

: 00:20:26

said that he's 100% behind this program.

350

: 00:20:28

As long as the cats go

back where they came from.

351

: 00:20:33

I think he'll be very supportive.

352

: 00:20:35

I unfortunately, because of schedule

problems and I have to work a

353

: 00:20:39

full-time job, hadn't been able

to quite sit down with him yet.

354

: 00:20:43

So no, we did not at the time

get the authorities involved and,

355

: 00:20:50

but I did tell Barbara and Becky.

356

: 00:20:55

And I told them to spread the word

that if this ever happens again,

357

: 00:20:59

especially at a business where we've been

trapping, those businesses have cameras.

358

: 00:21:05

The sheriff's department has

cameras in various locations.

359

: 00:21:10

Call the sheriff's office

because it's illegal and a lot

360

: 00:21:15

of people don't realize it.

361

: 00:21:16

It's 100% illegal to trap a cat and

take it anywhere other than the shelter.

362

: 00:21:24

And these cats were not

brought to the shelter.

363

: 00:21:28

So there are several state, local,

state and federal laws that a

364

: 00:21:35

person can be prosecuted under.

365

: 00:21:38

And I can tell you this isn't the first

time I've heard about this white truck.

366

: 00:21:41

It's like a freaking ghost

running around the parish.

367

: 00:21:46

We've heard of this truck.

368

: 00:21:48

Going up and down the parish,

picking up cats, telling them, oh,

369

: 00:21:52

I work for the parish and gimme $10.

370

: 00:21:56

I take the cats away.

371

: 00:21:59

Or just taking the cats.

372

: 00:22:02

We've had lots of people with

their cats disappearing, and I

373

: 00:22:06

just had one of mine disappear.

374

: 00:22:08

She's just gone.

375

: 00:22:09

She never left my circle.

376

: 00:22:10

I live in a cul-de-sac.

377

: 00:22:11

Nobody comes back here.

378

: 00:22:12

I can't figure out what on earth could

have possibly happened to this cat.

379

: 00:22:16

She was a young cat.

380

: 00:22:17

She's gone.

381

: 00:22:20

So anybody see this white truck?

382

: 00:22:25

Anybody here of a white truck running

around the parish picking up cats?

383

: 00:22:31

Snap a picture of their license

plates because we wanna go to

384

: 00:22:34

the sheriff and I will pull in.

385

: 00:22:38

State and national organizations

behind us because this should

386

: 00:22:45

not happen in the United States.

387

: 00:22:47

Not today, not when we have solutions,

not when we're working on a solution.

388

: 00:22:54

This is just cruelty and animal

cruelty is against the law.

389

: 00:23:00

Yeah, that's absolutely horrifying.

390

: 00:23:03

Yeah it was very upsetting.

391

: 00:23:04

It was incredibly upsetting.

392

: 00:23:07

And it's frustrating

because we feel powerless.

393

: 00:23:11

Unless somebody catches this

person in the act, gets a picture

394

: 00:23:14

of their license plate, then

it's difficult to prosecute them.

395

: 00:23:19

I can tell you, I haven't heard

anything in the past, probably

396

: 00:23:25

six months about this truck, but

it was pretty active before that.

397

: 00:23:33

Dixie: Wow.

398

: 00:23:33

See now I know here in Jefferson

Parish and in Orleans Parish, we

399

: 00:23:38

will see things where cats will end

up going missing, like colony cats.

400

: 00:23:44

And a lot of the times they

actually will find them out in St.

401

: 00:23:48

Bernard Parish.

402

: 00:23:49

It's crazy.

403

: 00:23:50

Robbie: Yeah.

404

: 00:23:50

I'm not surprised at that.

405

: 00:23:53

, That does seem to be a thing.

406

: 00:23:55

In fact, that's why anytime I see anything

on our lost and found pages, I try to

407

: 00:23:59

make sure it gets on the Jefferson Parish

and the Orleans Parish pages because

408

: 00:24:03

Yeah, like I said, it happened to me.

409

: 00:24:05

I had my neighbor trap my cat and dump

it in City Park, but my cat was chipped.

410

: 00:24:09

It was an inside outside cat.

411

: 00:24:11

I tried to make him an inside cat.

412

: 00:24:13

He would just.

413

: 00:24:14

Would not have cooperate, anytime

you open the door, he'd run out.

414

: 00:24:19

And if I had been trying to keep him

in, like after she complained, I had

415

: 00:24:23

him in the house for about three weeks.

416

: 00:24:26

Finally, he escaped outta the door

and he ran away for two weeks.

417

: 00:24:30

And I'm putting flyers

all over the neighborhood.

418

: 00:24:32

I'm looking for my cat.

419

: 00:24:33

I can't figure out what happened to him.

420

: 00:24:35

And it was the flyer that did it

because my, come to find out he, he was

421

: 00:24:40

living in my backdoor neighbor's yard.

422

: 00:24:43

He just wouldn't come home

'cause he was mad 'cause he

423

: 00:24:46

didn't wanna be in the house.

424

: 00:24:50

And so I got him back that time

and then he escaped again and.

425

: 00:24:56

I'm gonna go around and knock on her door.

426

: 00:24:58

But I hadn't had time yet.

427

: 00:24:59

It'd been about four days.

428

: 00:25:01

And I received a phone call from a

man who had found my cat in City Park,

429

: 00:25:06

taken it to the vet and gotten the chip.

430

: 00:25:09

And he says I really like him.

431

: 00:25:12

Would you be willing to let me have him?

432

: 00:25:13

And I'm all like.

433

: 00:25:15

As long as he has a happy home.

434

: 00:25:16

, 'Cause I'm having this problem with

this neighbor and, so he says, I'll try.

435

: 00:25:20

So he kept my cat for about a week and

he is just an ornery, cantankerous cat

436

: 00:25:26

and he refused to go along with his cats.

437

: 00:25:29

And so he is I'm gonna have

to bring him back to you.

438

: 00:25:30

I said, that's okay, I'm

gonna bring him back.

439

: 00:25:33

It was shortly after that

we moved out here to St.

440

: 00:25:35

Bernard.

441

: 00:25:36

But.

442

: 00:25:37

Yeah.

443

: 00:25:38

So I know exactly what they do

in Jefferson and Orleans Parish,

444

: 00:25:42

and I'm sure people here in St.

445

: 00:25:43

Bernard Parish do it too.

446

: 00:25:44

But I will say I've lived, I lived

in Broadmoor, I lived in Bucktown.

447

: 00:25:53

I've lived in front settlement

in the middle of nowhere.

448

: 00:25:58

Okay.

449

: 00:25:59

I've never seen a cat, problem what

they've got in st bernard Parish.

450

: 00:26:03

I've never seen it.

451

: 00:26:05

And the funny thing is, and Barbara

and I went to a training a while

452

: 00:26:10

back, and one of my favorite things

that I took away from that training

453

: 00:26:16

is people want to blame the feeders.

454

: 00:26:19

They're like, oh, if you stop feeding

those cats, they gonna go away.

455

: 00:26:24

No, they're not.

456

: 00:26:26

Because.

457

: 00:26:27

Yeah, somebody was feeding

the cats here irregularly.

458

: 00:26:30

She was coming from the North Shore and

she would feed 'em maybe once a week.

459

: 00:26:33

And when food was gone, it was gone.

460

: 00:26:35

My neighbor across the way one of the

first stories he told me was How, all

461

: 00:26:42

the cats don't normally bother him.

462

: 00:26:43

He doesn't hate cats, he

says, but showed me his leg.

463

: 00:26:47

He's got this five inch scar and he said.

464

: 00:26:51

One day the cat, one of these wild

cats was eating outta my dog's bowl.

465

: 00:26:55

So I wanted to shoo him away.

466

: 00:26:57

I didn't want him to eat my dog's food.

467

: 00:26:59

So he went to shoo the cat.

468

: 00:27:00

The cat turned around and attacked him

and scratched him so badly he had to

469

: 00:27:06

go to the hospital, get stitches on

that leg, and still has a scar of that.

470

: 00:27:10

So people blamed the feeders.

471

: 00:27:13

People try to pass laws against feeders.

472

: 00:27:15

People try to stop the feeders.

473

: 00:27:16

Guess what you're gonna get.

474

: 00:27:18

You don't have fewer cats.

475

: 00:27:21

You've got now starving aggressive

cats because that cat that attacked him

476

: 00:27:28

still lives on my front porch a And she

never goes over and bothers him anymore.

477

: 00:27:35

She's not trying to eat his dog food.

478

: 00:27:38

And one of the things that we

learned at this training was that

479

: 00:27:44

the feeders are actually the key.

480

: 00:27:48

To making the program a success

because when somebody feeds the

481

: 00:27:53

cats learn to trust that person.

482

: 00:27:56

Your number one chance at catching

every one of those cats and getting

483

: 00:28:00

every one of them fixed is that feeder

being recruit them to agree to do the

484

: 00:28:09

trapping, to get the cats fixed, and

when you get feeders on your side, then.

485

: 00:28:17

Then you've got something,

then you can get the job done.

486

: 00:28:21

Because the cats are gonna trust

them and then they continue to feed.

487

: 00:28:24

And the cats stop wondering.

488

: 00:28:27

The cats stop spraying

everybody's furniture.

489

: 00:28:30

Cats stop causing problems.

490

: 00:28:34

They start hanging around

the feeder's house.

491

: 00:28:36

Dixie: Yeah, and I would like to mention

something about that too, because one

492

: 00:28:40

of the things that I always hear from

people who are feeding but not fixing

493

: 00:28:44

now, that's what I have a problem with.

494

: 00:28:46

If you're gonna feed, you need to fix.

495

: 00:28:48

. One of the things that I always

hear from the feeders who aren't

496

: 00:28:52

fixing is the cat likes me.

497

: 00:28:54

I don't want the cat to dislike me.

498

: 00:28:56

That cat is gonna dislike you for

maybe two days, and that's it.

499

: 00:29:01

Robbie: And I understand that

feeling because I have that feeling.

500

: 00:29:04

I'm like, I don't wanna

upset my kitty cats.

501

: 00:29:06

Some of 'em I trapped when

they were absolutely wild.

502

: 00:29:08

We did a big trapping.

503

: 00:29:10

I had the ladies from New Orleans

and Jefferson Parish come help me.

504

: 00:29:15

We trapped most of them, but just like any

other colony, every now and then a new one

505

: 00:29:21

shows up, and, one of my most favorite and

most tame was one that showed up pregnant.

506

: 00:29:28

When I say pregnant, she looked like

she was about to pop, so I called Nita.

507

: 00:29:32

This was before I started

our program, Nita.

508

: 00:29:36

This, look, here's a picture.

509

: 00:29:37

She just showed up.

510

: 00:29:38

What do I do?

511

: 00:29:40

And I said, do I wait for her to

have kids or do I bring her in?

512

: 00:29:43

She says, oh, no, don't you dare wait

for her to have you get her in here.

513

: 00:29:47

And she says they'll take care

of that when they go fix her.

514

: 00:29:50

And I was like, okay.

515

: 00:29:52

So I tried for three days to

trap her, couldn't trap her.

516

: 00:29:58

Finally got her in a kennel.

517

: 00:30:00

She lost her mind.

518

: 00:30:03

Can I tell you, when I put her in that

kennel and I threw a cover over it and

519

: 00:30:07

she still wasn't happy, like she was

very aggressive in a kennel or a cage.

520

: 00:30:12

Okay?

521

: 00:30:14

So I holler off to Nita who fussed at

me for her being in a kennel, but we

522

: 00:30:19

got her in a cage so that she could be

handled because a lot of people don't

523

: 00:30:23

realize that if you got a wild cat.

524

: 00:30:25

The vet can't handle them.

525

: 00:30:27

If they're in a kennel, they have

to be in a trap, which confines

526

: 00:30:31

them a little bit so that they can

give the shots to knock 'em out.

527

: 00:30:35

So she helped me with that and

we get it done and she takes it.

528

: 00:30:40

She gets her fixed, right?

529

: 00:30:42

And so the people who are wor

out there who are worrying about

530

: 00:30:45

my cat's gonna be mad at me.

531

: 00:30:46

And I'm saying, your cat,

sometimes they run off for the day.

532

: 00:30:50

But if you're the one feeding

them, they're gonna be right

533

: 00:30:52

back the next feeding period.

534

: 00:30:54

This particular cat.

535

: 00:30:55

I was like, okay, so she's done.

536

: 00:30:58

And I opened up her cage and I was

gonna watch her run off, and I sat

537

: 00:31:03

down on the stair step on my steps

after I opened her cage and she ran

538

: 00:31:07

into the middle of the row yard.

539

: 00:31:09

She looked at me, she turned around,

ran to me, and crawled in my lap.

540

: 00:31:19

What, like she wouldn't, lemme get

near her before this and to this

541

: 00:31:24

day, anytime I sit down in that

yard, that cat comes good in my lap.

542

: 00:31:29

So they're not gonna hate you forever.

543

: 00:31:33

Dixie: Yeah, they're very forgiving.

544

: 00:31:34

Especially when food is involved.

545

: 00:31:36

Robbie: Yeah.

546

: 00:31:37

Yeah.

547

: 00:31:38

And I think once, and we had a

lady who lives out here in the

548

: 00:31:42

parish and had a real hard time

with the concept of trapping.

549

: 00:31:45

And we had another lady who is one of our

best trapper, absolute salt of the earth.

550

: 00:31:50

Sandra is phenomenal and.

551

: 00:31:55

She's very patient and she worked

with her, 'cause it was very upsetting

552

: 00:32:00

to our feeder that lives out here.

553

: 00:32:03

And she finally got the lady to see

that once you do this, yeah, it, and you

554

: 00:32:11

put the cover over 'em for one thing.

555

: 00:32:12

Once you put the cover over 'em,

they all settle down real easy.

556

: 00:32:15

And you get it done.

557

: 00:32:17

Life's better for the cat.

558

: 00:32:19

And so once the feeders, once we can

explain this to the feeders I don't

559

: 00:32:25

know, maybe you need to take 'em to watch

somebody else trap and see how it's done

560

: 00:32:30

before they can understand that it's

not a permanent thing, it's a few hours

561

: 00:32:35

out of the cat's life and they're gonna

forget about it, so I love feeders.

562

: 00:32:43

Because their hearts

are in the right place.

563

: 00:32:46

But they do need they do have to

understand that if they're feeding

564

: 00:32:52

and they're not fixing, they're

making the problem worse for the cats.

565

: 00:32:57

And I think once they understand that

they're making things worse for the cats.

566

: 00:33:05

Almost everyone I've ever dealt

with has turned around, made a 180.

567

: 00:33:11

Has fixed the problem.

568

: 00:33:14

It's just sometimes takes a

little longer to get through , to

569

: 00:33:17

some of 'em than others.

570

: 00:33:18

But once and eventually that

colony's gonna get outta their hands.

571

: 00:33:23

I'm sorry.

572

: 00:33:24

Most of these people who are feeding

cats are not wealthy people and

573

: 00:33:30

eventually they're not gonna have

enough money to feed the all those cats.

574

: 00:33:36

It's gonna be a problem.

575

: 00:33:39

So eventually, if we're patient

and work with them, I think

576

: 00:33:44

the feeders come around.

577

: 00:33:46

But

578

: 00:33:49

you gotta be patient

and you gotta be kind.

579

: 00:33:52

And lots of times you just have

to meet people where they are,

580

: 00:33:57

Dixie: do you have any

suggestions for doing that?

581

: 00:34:01

Robbie: Meeting people where they are.

582

: 00:34:03

I think Sandra's technique worked

really well with the lady that we,

583

: 00:34:08

that was so difficult out here.

584

: 00:34:11

She took her to see, look, come help me.

585

: 00:34:14

I need you.

586

: 00:34:15

Come see this is my cat.

587

: 00:34:17

We're gonna trap these cat.

588

: 00:34:19

And then when she was able

to see that, the cat's fine.

589

: 00:34:28

Come back out tomorrow, you're

gonna see me feed the same cat.

590

: 00:34:31

Cat's not gonna run away.

591

: 00:34:33

They might run away temporarily, but they

come back, and you gotta talk to 'em.

592

: 00:34:39

What are you gonna do when

you're 20 cats or 60 cats?

593

: 00:34:45

You got enough money to feed at 60?

594

: 00:34:47

What are you gonna do?

595

: 00:34:49

Let us help you.

596

: 00:34:51

Yeah.

597

: 00:34:51

And that 60 would grow

out of control so fast.

598

: 00:34:56

You would

599

: 00:34:56

look at,

600

: 00:34:56

Dixie: at 60, and if you say half

of those are female in four uhhuh,

601

: 00:35:01

and when they're four months old,

you're looking at 60 times four.

602

: 00:35:05

Because that's the average

that they have is usually four.

603

: 00:35:09

Even if you did

604

: 00:35:09

Robbie: it

605

: 00:35:09

Dixie: at two, it's still

an astronomical number.

606

: 00:35:13

Robbie: Exactly.

607

: 00:35:14

So it's a matter of educating

people and being patient.

608

: 00:35:19

Sometimes you have to give them

the information and walk away.

609

: 00:35:23

And it might take them a little

while, but I think they start to

610

: 00:35:26

understand, and some of the information

the feeders need is things like not

611

: 00:35:31

fixing the males hurts the males.

612

: 00:35:34

They wind up blind.

613

: 00:35:35

They wind up with their ears ripped off,

they wind up with their sides, bit out.

614

: 00:35:39

They die because they're fighting.

615

: 00:35:43

Okay.

616

: 00:35:44

The females, they wind up

with, what do they call that?

617

: 00:35:48

The prolapse uterus?

618

: 00:35:50

The pyometra.

619

: 00:35:51

Yes.

620

: 00:35:51

Yeah.

621

: 00:35:52

Yes.

622

: 00:35:53

And their bred until their skin and

bones and had no nutrition left.

623

: 00:36:00

This is not a good life for your cats,

and they might not be receptive at

624

: 00:36:08

first, but I think eventually their

heart's gonna get the better of 'em

625

: 00:36:13

because once you point it out to them,

they're gonna start seeing it happen.

626

: 00:36:18

People when they don't know

that they can make it better,

627

: 00:36:23

they just go, oh, this is life.

628

: 00:36:24

I have to live with it.

629

: 00:36:26

But if you're sitting there telling the

feeder, you can make your colonies life

630

: 00:36:30

better and this is all you have to do,

631

: 00:36:35

I think they'll come around eventually.

632

: 00:36:38

Dixie: Before we end the call, I

do have one final question for you.

633

: 00:36:42

So Uhhuh, you said that this all started

because your cat ended up getting trapped

634

: 00:36:48

and getting dumped, and then so you're

looking for a cat friendly place to move.

635

: 00:36:52

Before you moved, did you participate in

any TNR programs or was this something

636

: 00:36:57

that just totally came up after you

saw that there was a need for it?

637

: 00:37:03

Robbie: This came up because I

moved into the middle of a colony

638

: 00:37:06

and I didn't know what to do.

639

: 00:37:11

I didn't have the money to fix

wild cats living outside my house.

640

: 00:37:15

I didn't and trapped that cat.

641

: 00:37:20

Absolutely the salt of the earth.

642

: 00:37:23

And they helped me and the

Jefferson Parish people helped me.

643

: 00:37:27

And to this day, Trap

Dat Cat is helping St.

644

: 00:37:31

Bernard's, TNR program.

645

: 00:37:33

They donate over a thousand

dollars every month to help pay

646

: 00:37:38

for some of the cats that we fix.

647

: 00:37:40

They're that dedicated to doing this.

648

: 00:37:43

And what got to me eventually that made

me step up and say, okay, I'm gonna

649

: 00:37:50

create this and I'm gonna organize this.

650

: 00:37:53

Is that my conscious got to me.

651

: 00:37:55

I had people reach out and help me and

10 months later I'm sitting here watching

652

: 00:38:01

people on Facebook in the same situation.

653

: 00:38:04

I'm in, beg and Plead for help, and

I'm saying nothing, and I'm like.

654

: 00:38:11

I couldn't do that anymore.

655

: 00:38:12

I couldn't, my conscious got better of me.

656

: 00:38:14

I'm like, somebody help me.

657

: 00:38:17

I gotta try to help the other people.

658

: 00:38:19

And like I said, I know

Orleans Parish is bad.

659

: 00:38:23

I know Jefferson Parish is bad,

but I think the problem in st.

660

: 00:38:30

Bernard Parish is quadruple

what either of those parish has.

661

: 00:38:35

And I just say that from

driving down the street.

662

: 00:38:38

When I lived in Bucktown,

we didn't have wildcat.

663

: 00:38:42

I didn't have any wild cats on my street.

664

: 00:38:45

I could walk the whole neighborhood

and I never saw a wildcat.

665

: 00:38:52

It's true.

666

: 00:38:53

I can walk three blocks one

way here, and I'm gonna see

667

: 00:38:57

five or six different colonies.

668

: 00:39:01

Dixie: It's truly an amazing

and great job that you ladies

669

: 00:39:05

are doing, and it's definitely a

testament that you can get involved.

670

: 00:39:11

So if you see something.

671

: 00:39:13

There's no reason for you to wait for

somebody else to solve the problem.

672

: 00:39:17

Robbie: Correct.

673

: 00:39:18

You can find a way to

get it done yourself.

674

: 00:39:20

Dixie: And that just with this alone,

you started a group and you didn't

675

: 00:39:23

even know really about TNR until you

saw that there was a need for it.

676

: 00:39:27

So that's amazing.

677

: 00:39:28

It really is amazing.

678

: 00:39:29

Robbie: And I can tell you in

: 2024

679

: 00:39:34

we spayed neutered 661 cats.

680

: 00:39:37

Last year we were able

to span neuter 850 cats.

681

: 00:39:42

That's great.

682

: 00:39:42

So it's a start.

683

: 00:39:43

. That's amazing.

684

: 00:39:46

Yes, and anybody that needs help with

Cat around their property, around

685

: 00:39:53

their business should reach out to

snip and tip so that we can help.

686

: 00:40:00

Dixie: Yeah.

687

: 00:40:00

What I can do is include a

link in the show notes too.

688

: 00:40:05

Robbie: That'll be awesome.

689

: 00:40:06

Dixie: Thank you so much

for joining me today.

690

: 00:40:08

Robbie: The same here.

691

: 00:40:09

Thank you for allowing

me to be on your show.

692

: 00:40:11

Dixie: That's it for today's

episode of Animal Posse.

693

: 00:40:14

If you love what we're doing,

please consider becoming a member.

694

: 00:40:17

Your support directly helps us continue

highlighting the people and stories

695

: 00:40:21

that save lives across the country.

696

: 00:40:23

Just a quick reminder, the views

and opinions expressed by our

697

: 00:40:27

guests are theirs alone and are

provided for entertainment purposes.

698

: 00:40:31

They don't necessarily.

699

: 00:40:32

reflect the official position of the show,

and this information should never replace

700

: 00:40:37

the advice of your own veterinarian.

701

: 00:40:39

Thanks for listening, and

we'll see you next time.