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Midwest Floods Cause Stray Cat Baby Boom
Zoo Too Pet News, February 19, 2009
By Amy Lieberman
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- The heavy flooding that ravished Cedar Rapids, among other Iowa cities, last spring have since receded, leaving destroyed homes and torn lives in their wake.
The city was hit hard by swelling rivers and, on June 12, 2008, suffered the effects of a broken levee. Eight months later, rescue efforts continue to unfold in the region; no one, an animal welfare organization is saying, should get left behind in the mix.
That includes cats -- and not just a few common strays, but thousands of both feral and tame felines that have established their own community in desolate parts of eastern Iowa.
"Cedar Rapids was just devastated from the flooding," said Lynn Zimba, co-founder of the Iowa Humane Alliance, a nonprofit organization based in Coralville, Iowa. "Iowa got hit hard in general."
At this point, Oakville, a city nearly two hours south of Cedar Rapids, "actually has more cats living there now than people," Zimba said of the town which had 439 residents as of the 2000 U.S. census.
In order to benefit animal welfare and public health alike, the Iowa Humane Alliance is now embarking on an ambitious project: to round up all the strays within a 100-mile radius of eastern Iowa and spay/neuter them, potentially calling an end to stray feline overpopulation in the region. READ ENTIRE ARTICLE.
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Oakville Trap/Neuter/Return Project Triumphs
Best Friends Network, April 02, 2009:
Town gets on board to help community cats
In the beginning of March, a five day trap/neuter/return project descended on the town of Oakville, Iowa. Iowa Humane Alliance led the charge with backing from Best Friends Animal Society; the goal was simple - to spay and neuter as many cats as possible. Since the flood waters of last year helped expose the community cat crisis of the area, animal organizations and the public have joined forces to solve the problem.
By using over 193 volunteer man-hours, all of the free roaming feline residents of Oakville were fixed. The surgeries included 31 spays, 17 neuters and one particularly prolific pooch. With under a dozen unaltered cats left in the town, Blount and her colleagues are working with the local veterinarians to get them fixed. Spay Iowa has offered to pay for the remaining procedures. READ ENTIRE ARTICLE
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