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Sunday, August 16, 1998 Page:
Urges citizens to help solve neighborhood stray-cat problems
In response to comments in SAYSO about a “cat house” in West Pittston
(Aug9), Valley Cat Rescue is an all-volunteer, “no-kill” organization. We take
in about 60 cats per year. We pay for testing, treatment, immunizations and
neutering for every cat before adoption. And it costs a lot. We pay vet bills
just like any pet owner and raise most of our money ourselves. We keep every
cat until a good home is found, no matter how long it takes.
Once our facility is full, we must turn away animals until an opening is
available. We are forced to do so every day, especially during the spring and
summer because of humans who don’t have their cats neutered, who abandon
animals rather than turn them in at the SPCA, or who think the stray animal
problem in their neighborhood should be someone else’s responsibility.
The SPCA could visit that “cat house” along with the hundreds of others
throughout Luzerne County every month, gather up every cat there, and in no
time things would be right back the way they started. If the home is vacant,
strays from other territories would move in. If it’s inhabited by an “animal
collector,” their supply would soon be replenished from the huge surplus of
homeless cats.
Did you think this problem was unique to West Pittston?
Valley Cats Rescue is made up entirely of volunteers who care about quality
of life for both humans and animals. We’re trying to make the Valley better by
addressing the human ignorance and apathy that cause situations like this. In
three years, we rehabilitated and placed more than 150 abandoned cats;
obtained reduced-cost neutering for over 600 owned cats; and opened this
county’s first year-round, open-to-the-public, reduced-cost spay/neuter clinic
for cats.
Perhaps SAYSO callers should quit expecting someone else to come in and
solve this problem for them. Get together with other concerned neighbors, find
out who owns this property and work with local officials to solve the problem.
Rather than criticize the SPCA or VCR for not riding to the rescue, why not
join either or both organizations as a volunteer? VCR sure could use another