Marysville and feral cats: fighting overpopulation with TNR method

City partners with agency to spay, neuter cats

It’s a big job in Marysville: curbing the population of feral cats. Extra help is needed.

Fieldhaven Feline Center, based in Lincoln, came to town to help trap feral cats, which were spayed/ neutered, cared for and then returned to the location they were found.

Joy Smith, executive director of Fieldhaven, said Marysville city officials came to her a year ago wanting to provide funding to help spay and neuter and curtail the overpopulation of feral cats.

The process, called “Trap, Neuter, Return,” or TNR, helps to control the overbreeding of feral cats so they’re not a nuisance.

Smith said close to 60 cats were trapped between the hours of 6:30 p.m. Thursday and 3:30 a.m. Friday. Most will be returned to their previous location.

“They have to go back,” volunteer Leslie Zaletel said. “That’s their home, where they eat, sleep and hide.”

Zaletel said one of the final steps in the process is the ear tip where part of the ear is trimmed to help future trappers properly identify the cats.

Trapping is done at night, Zaletel said, because that’s when cats usually are awake and looking for food. She said feeding stations are set up, but then taken away a day or two before the trap begins as a way to entice the cats back to the location.

Then during the trapping, Zaletel says the cats are enticed with either rotisserie chicken or fish and lured to the trap where they’re eventually captured and tended to.

Smith said very rarely would the cats be euthanized. Usually they are cared for, given proper shots, microchipped and either spayed or neutered.

Once they’re returned, Smith said anyone can “go find one” to adopt, but she wants people to know that they are still feral.

“Feral cats are not socialized to humans,” Smith said.

Jeanie Schumacher, a volunteer with Fieldhaven, said a similar trapping process was done in Paradise after the Camp Fire where they recovered 700 cats after the devastation. Schumacher said 150 of the 700 were reunited using microchipping.

Marysville Animal Care Services and Davies Animal Medical Hospital in Yuba City are also involved in the trapping process.