Animal Rescue with Marion Garnett
Dedicated animal expert Marion Garnett, founder of the Ealing Animal Charities Fair, continues her column
IN some respects, the work of Hounslow Animal Welfare Society (HAWS) would be a lot easier if cats were primates.
Not only might they have fingers and an opposable thumb so they could open a sachet of cat food themselves but also they are likely to only have one offspring at a time, instead of several.
I’m thinking of this right now as, in order to keep children occupied during the lockdown, the world-famous ape rescue centre, Monkey World has prepared a fabulous 10-week course on primates and I’ve just watched the first session “What are primates?”
As well as having larger, more complex brains, one of the key differences between primates (and that includes us) and other animals is that when primates reproduce they usually have only one baby at a time.
If that was the case with cats, the work of HAWS would be different. HAWS spend a lot of time finding homes for homeless kittens. Just look at these five beauties. Their mum was a feral cat but because the babies have had a lot of human contact they are tame.
Feral cats have had little or no contact with humans and cannot be tamed. They are usually the offspring of stray, feral or abandoned domestic cats who have missed out on positive socialisation experiences with people when they were two to eight weeks old.
Before the lockdown, HAWS was working with the colony of feral cats where the mum of these kittens lived. What they do is, humanely trap the cats, neuter them, attend to medical needs and, if it’s suitable, put them back where they found them. If the cat is pregnant, HAWS foster the mum until she gives birth and the kittens are old enough, then they neuter the Mum and put her back.
This is what has happened with this family. HAWS foster carer said the kitten’s mum was one of the wildest feral cats she has known. Mum has now been neutered and returned but the kittens are used to human company and can be homed when lockdown is over. If this could be with you, call HAWS on 020 8560 5443.
Now back to the primates. Monkey World’s clear interactive lessons take place every Monday on Facebook at 11am. You can email education@monkeyworld.org to ask any questions you have.
Completed worksheets can be sent to Monkey World who will send a certificate which can be built up into a portfolio. Details are available from monkeyworld.org