Thursday, April 24, 2008

Our Story Thus Far

Back in late February I had to go to my apartment complex's office randomly. While there for a completely unrelated reason, I overheard my slightly batty downstairs neighbor telling the manager how sad she was that she could no longer feed the stray cats in the area. She'd been told to stop because there were so many of them, and they would congregate in front of her door in the evenings.

There are dozens of them. I asked the manager, once the slightly batty neighbor left, what the deal was. She said they were looking for a way to get rid of them.

If you know about feral cats, you know that there is no way to get rid of them short of killing them all. Oh sure, you can call the humane society, but if they come they won't take the cats to a nice comfy home, they'll simply euthanize the cats, often even before they get to the shelter.

I love animals. I have cats of my own, for example, and they're rescues. I like animals more than I like most people. I like these cats; seeing them makes me happy.

Months later I have finally secured a promise that the management won't call animal control, or the exterminators, etc., and I have permission to Trap, Neuter and Release the cats. They get to stay here as managed colony. I've been in touch with AzCATS a group that pretty much does this: trap, neuter and release. I'm now on the list. (I need their help, I need their traps and I need a volunteer's van in order to drive the many, many cats from here to the vet and back.)

Now... I just need the money. Approximately 25 cats. $50 per cat.

How can you help? Several options.

1) The most obvious: donate! Dooooonate! Donaaaaaate. There's a button on this page. You can click it. Every dollar counts.

2) Sponsor a Cat. Donate $50 or more and you get your very own long-distance feral pet. Just what you've always wanted! Obviously I'll be blogging this entire surreal experience, but if you sponsor a cat, you'll get to name him/her (in most cases), get pictures of the cat, and individual story about 'your' cat.

3) Buy from my Etsy Shop. Nothing there costs very much, but all the same, every bit counts and it'll all go towards the cats.

4) Tell your friends. Send 'em to this blog so that they'll sponsor and/or donate. :)

5) Starting Monday there will be a RAFFLE. A raffle full of those most interesting and awesome prizes ever, many of them handmade. Tickets will cost $1 (but $10 will get you 11tickets, and $20 will get you 25 tickets.) You'll be able to choose towards what prize you want your tickets counted.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm here via emilytheslayer on LJ, who posted about the raffle. I'd be willing to donate a $50 gift certificate for custom jewelry from Wyrding Studios, same as I did for Shadesong's raffle. If you're interested, drop me a line at kythryne@wyrdingstudios.com.

Unknown said...

Kyth, you're seriously the best.

Unknown said...

I'll be donating some of my brownies to the cause!