More than Words

This post is a general response to people who believe the Volunteers of Sandestin are doing the wrong thing-

Some have criticized that we cannot be working to reduce and eliminate the feral cats in our community because the top line of or blog says - "Working to protect and preserve the Feral cat population in Sandestin and find new homes for our abandoned feline friends." That doesn't sound like we are intent on reducing the cat population but our ACTIONS have spoken louder than 20 words at the top of a page ever could...

During our work for the last half of 2009 we have trapped 75 cats.

Of those, 15 (all kittens) were fostered and adopted out to new homes.

The remaining cats (60) were spayed or neutered, tested and found to be disease free, given all shots and vaccinations for future illnesses that might be spread to humans and other animals, and marked for identification through micro-chipping and left ear cropping.

If we had done NOTHING, here is a conservative estimate of the number of NEW kittens that would be running around Sandestin by the end of 2010:

29 females x 2.5 litters a year x 3 kittens per litter = 293 kittens
36 males x AT LEAST 3 kittens from mating with females that have not been trapped = 108

Total number of kittens that will now NOT HAPPEN in 2010 due to these efforts: 401

There is no way to argue that the TNR efforts are not having an impact on controlling and, over time, reducing the cat population in Sandestin.

The message at the top of this page and the mission statement to the left have been changed to reflect what should be obvious after reading this post. Please take some time to learn more about Trap-Neuter-Release and the positive impact this program is having all over our country.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post -
The Volunteers of Sandestin