MOUNT FOREST — A local cat rescue has created a new program to reduce the number of stray cats roaming the streets this winter.
Called the Mount Forest Cat Colony Trap Neuter and Release/Relocate (TNR) Project, the program was created by Arthur Animal Rescue (AAR) to help the estimated 30+ cats currently roaming Mount Forest and the Pike Lake area.
The issue isn't exclusive to Mount Forest according to volunteer Sandra Schaefer, who said many rescues across Southern Ontario are filled to the brim. AAR currently has 138 cats in their care of which 59 are up for adoption.
That's where the TNR program comes in.
"Feral and stray cats can populate so quickly, it doesn't take many stray cats in a community like Mount Forest to then all of a sudden, have, you know, 15, 20, 30 cats roaming around the community," said Schaefer. "And if they're not getting fixed, the population just grows."
Intended to address "the root cause of the problem," Schaefer said outside of the physical benefits, the TNR program will provide community education for people who want to help but don't know how.
AAR receives at least three messages daily about stray or feral cats from Mount Forest residents.
"They wander and they will go to whoever will feed them. So they are going to the kind people that say, 'oh my gosh, there's a cat,' and they put out food for them," said Schaefer. "Street cats are pretty smart. They will make their rounds around the community. Sometimes we'll get a couple of calls, but it's the same cat."
Schaefer said the misconception that feral cats are exclusively a rural issue also contributes to the growing population in urban areas.
"People see stray cats and they just think the cat is someone's outdoor cat," said Schaefer. "People don't really realize until it's too late and they have a whole colony of cats wandering around."
Since Sept. 1, AAR has performed 65 TNR's across Wellington County using grant funding from some local Walmarts. For reference, AAR TNR'd 50 cats total in 2023.
Of those, 39 were relocated to barns through AAR's barn cat program, which allows them to relocate stray or feral cats to barns where they provide rodent control in exchange for food and veterinary care.
"Quite often, especially in the community, they don't want the cat back (after it's TNR'd)," said Schaefer. "So where we have these community cats where there's no one there to give them proper shelter and food on a consistent basis, we will then relocate them to a place where we know they're taking care of."
As a non-profit, Schaefer said the main challenge for the group is funding, especially since each TNR costs approximately $150. They're also looking for volunteers to help with trapping and barns to host them in.
"So we're really trying to ramp up our program, and we can only do that if we have the funding....we have all the equipment, we have the program set up, we have the vet spots waiting- we just need the cash," said Schaefer.
For more information or to donate/volunteer to help, Schaefer said to reach out via email at [email protected].
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
