I feel a desperate rush to offer support to the women taking care of the feral/stray cat population before all the cat haters start with their ugliness and ignorance. My mom and I have been doing the same for years.

I first started volunteering at the Kootenai Humane Society years ago to help the animals out. I only stopped because once I saw the devastating problem with feral/strays, I had to switch my energy to that problem. I would like to add something regarding the debate about the "conditions" of the KHS. It has been several years so I don't know the "real" situation, but back then everyone took great care of the animals and the facility. I'd like to tell all of the people complaining about the conditions that instead of leaving because "It was depressing/dirty, etc." that you should ALL put your physical energy, and not just your opinions, into making it a better place if you feel the animals are suffering. How cowardly to walk away from something you feel is wrong, and leave others to either "not" do it correctly or for others to do it alone. Step up people, and soon it won't be as you claim!

Now on to the real reason I am writing. Many years ago at the house I rented (moved away a year and half ago) in Hayden I became aware of the heartbreaking problem of the cats. If it had been an epidemic of puppies/dogs, the citizens would have STEPPED UP to try to solve it, instead of ALLOWING it to continue. My mom and I have given ALL to this problem. Money, energy, time and emotion. We have trapped/spayed and neutered/released more than three dozen of YOUR irresponsible MESS! As Lynn Doria said, "It's that there are too many people who are not responsible pet owners." So true!

When I first noticed the cats, and went around my neighborhood to see whose cats they were, every single house I went to pointed to the corner house. I won't say the name, but won't you be surprised to know the house belonged to a Hayden City Council member! His neighbor explained to me that he gets cats and abandons them on his property to be "mousers!" Unspayed/neutered cats to breed more unspayed/neutered cats! They always denied owning a cat. Of course! I watched and SMELLED the babies born to die.

It was after that we decided to do what we do. After several years we got the problem contained, and no litters were born for more than a year before we moved. One other neighbor, along with his employee, liked to shoot and kill them, even though they knew we had spent a FORTUNE on their care. So when we moved, we took all the cats with us. We have built a cat house, along with outdoor fencing to contain them. I have always been a "dog person," now I am both! Along with my dog, whom I got from Second Chance Rescue (don't buy your pets, adopt them), we own nine cats now. All because Mr. City Council threw them out like garbage. We now are responsible for HIS irresponsibility, along with all you people who allow your unaltered cats to roam the neighborhood getting each other pregnant!

As the article stated, the KHS has a Feral Friday program, Rathdrum has a wonderful organization called Concerned People for Animals (208-687-5054) that sometimes has the funds to distribute vouchers for cheap spay/neuters. There are many clinics throughout all the connecting cities to take your cats to. They feel hunger, fear, sickness along with making STRONG bonds with each other within their colonies. They are just like YOUR dogs people. Be responsible! If you aren't helping the problem, at least don't ADD to it!

BRANDI BYE

Post Falls