Pandemic disrupting feral cat programs
On Friday, , the world celebrates Global Cat Day amidst a global pandemic. Rather than a day of celebration, the San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition (SAFCC) is already facing the grim reality of the pandemic on feral cat surgeries this year.
SAFCC has about 33 volunteers, the group has trained more than 9,000 public trappers to do trap-neuter-return with community strays through the years. When businesses shut down in March because of the pandemic, spay/neuter clinics associated with animal shelters shut down to the public as well, which left SAFCC volunteers and public trappers with no free or subsidized options to get feral cats fixed.
The largest provider for feral cat surgeries is the city’s Animal Care Services, whose Community Cat Program completes about 2,875 feral cat surgeries annually. Because of the pandemic, they were closed until late August and don’t expect more than 2,100 feral surgeries to be completed this year.
SAFCC’s volunteers get about 2,500 to 2,800 additional feral cats fixed annually through Animal Care Services or the Animal Defense League and San Antonio Humane Society. The Animal Defense League is still closed, but leaders there hope to resume feral cat surgeries sometime in November. As of now, they are about 640 feral cat surgeries short for this time of year.
After shutting down in March, the Humane Society reopened its Brooks Spay/Neuter clinic in April and its main clinic in late May. But leaders there say they are down about 500 feral cat surgeries for the year.
Of the groups that are currently open, there are fewer available surgery slots, meaning fewer slots for feral cats, as well. Sherry Derdak, president of SAFCC, said some feral cat trappers have gotten up at 3 a.m. to get in line at these reopened clinics only to find all of the available feral cat surgery slots filled when they arrive.
“I have heard of trappers giving up when they can’t find a place to get them fixed,” Derdak said. “It’s these people most impacted by the lack of feral cat surgeries this year.”
In light of these closures and reduced surgeries, SAFCC has done what they can to pick up the slack. Their volunteers provide trapping services to the elderly, the homebound and the disabled.
While they completed 2,693 feral cat surgeries in 2019, they have completed 3,314 surgeries through Aug. 30, thanks to a contract with a private vet and a local spay/neuter clinic that remained open. But because these surgeries were full price, it has depleted their resources for what they expect will be “an explosion of kittens next spring,” Derdak said.
So, what can we do to help? Get your cat fixed, stop abandoning cats and learn how to do trap-neuter-return to help San Antonio catch up on these feral cat surgeries in 2021. SAFCC offers free online and in person trap-neuter-return classes. For more information, visit sanantonioferalcats.org.