The local animal shelter, animal control officers, and the state are working to lower the number of feral cats in Tucker County. But the winter weather makes achieving that objective more difficult.
“It kind of slows down in winter, because we can’t do much with them,” Ricky Rosier, Tucker County animal control officer, said. To combat rising numbers, feral cats are trapped, spayed or neutered, and then released. Trapping cats is difficult in the winter, because if someone is not consistently checking all of the traps, a cat might freeze to death.
Rosier estimate that he trapped nearly 60 cats in Parsons over the summer. Once cats are spayed or neutered, they are strategically released outside of the towns in the county, but “sometimes they have to go back where they came from or they won’t survive,” Rosier said. Rosier mentioned a good alternative is to make an agreement with a local farmer who does not mind having farm cats on their property.
Earlier this year, the state recognized the need to reduce the number of feral cats in urban and rural areas. Funded through the Department of Agriculture, the Spay and Neuter Assistance Program of West Virginia intends to help counties lower their feral cat numbers by offering matching grants and individual subsidies for spaying and neutering. The program’s funding was raised by a tax added to pet food.
The recipients of the grant are announced in January. Tucker Community Foundation Director Robert Burns helped the Tucker County Animal Shelter apply for the grant. According to Burns, the state received twice as many requests as the funding will provide.
“It’s just an ongoing problem throughout Tucker County,” Animal Shelter Director Cathy Parsons said. “We basically try to do a lot of trap, neuter, release before winter.” Cats birth litters of kittens in the spring. Some cats can birth two to three litters throughout the spring and summer, with each litter containing three to five kittens.
“It’s a real vicious cycle,” Parsons said. “We get hit hard in the spring.” Through the trap, neuter, and release work, the animal shelter tries to stave off rising numbers. But the shelter cannot combat the issue on their own. Parsons suggested cat owners must spay or neuter their cats and report feral cats when they first see them. If feral cats are not reported immediately, the issue tends to keep spiraling downward.
In West Virginia, the average cost of spaying a cat is $150, and the neuter cost is $90. According to the Federation of Humane Organizations of West Virginia, 65 percent of households have pets, and state taxpayers spend nearly $10 million each year on population control.
