Page 19 - Intra Muros March Issue 2025
P. 19
ESTATE NEWS
A STORY OF SURVIVAL AND
NEW BEGINNINGS
By Kathy O’Connor
e are hungry. We cry, hoping Want to help?
someone will hear us. We - Sterilise your cats. A kitten can fall
Whuddle close because we are pregnant from four months old, and over
cold and scared. Our mom has not been back its lifespan can have an average of 124
to feed us in days, and we are growing weak. kittens.
We believe she will return soon, but with the - When you move, take all your family
passing of each day we are losing hope of members with you (including your cats).
ever seeing her. - Support your local group of Silver Lakes
residents who have achieved the following:
Then something marvellous happens. A kind • In 2023, sterilised 23 cats and rehomed
face appears, and a gentle hand reaches eight kittens, thereby preventing at least
out, scooping us up and wrapping us in a 80 additional wild cats.
soft blanket. We are given special kitten • In 2024, sterilised eight cats and
milk and the comfort of a warm bed. For rehomed 17 kittens.
the first time in our lives, we are safe. With • To date for 2025, sterilised four cats and
the nourishment we need, we will soon be rehomed two kittens.
playing games of hide and seek, just like
other kittens. We will not be returned to All of the above took place inside Silver
the “wild”. When we are old enough, we Lakes Golf and Wildlife Estate. These
will be sterilised and rehomed. We are very actions have prevented the explosion of
fortunate. wild cats on the estate.
Are wild cats a nuisance? Your support for this group could be in the
Many people consider so-called wild cats a form of helping to create awareness about
nuisance as they hunt birds and small wildlife the plight of abandoned cats, adoption,
and may enter homes to steal food. However, moral support, cat food donations or
they are not simply wild by choice. Usually, financial assistance.
they are neglected, abandoned or unspayed
pets. An unsterilised queen can have up to A note of thanks
five litters per year and each litter can have Thank you to the Silver Lakes Homeowners
an average of four to six kittens. Association for supporting the Silver Lakes’
TNR initiative and for showing kindness and
The presence of wild cats is symptomatic of compassion towards these cats.
a bigger issue related to pet abandonment,
the lack of responsible pet ownership
and a situation where feral colonies grow
unchecked – all these because of insufficient
community resources to take action.
Programmes like Trap Neuter Return (TNR)
help to reduce wild cat populations by
trapping, sterilising and returning cats to
their territorial area, thereby preventing the
growth of feral colonies while respecting the
role that these cats play in the environment
by, amongst other things, controlling rodent
populations.
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