Great night last night

Had a great night trapping at the correctional facility last night.  We trapped five cats for spay/neuter and vaccinations today.  The inmates were a phenomenal help and were able to pick up three of the cats and put them in the traps for me.  The cats raised a ruckus when they saw the traps, but the guys put on the heavy animal control gloves I have (bite resistant but not bite proof) and dropped them in the traps.  First three caught in first 30 minutes there.  We covered the traps and set them next to the laundry house and I got two more traps from my car and we set them and caught two more.  One of them is a lactating mama cat but I saw her kittens and they are definitely old enough to eat on their own and I put some food under the building where they are hiding (and the sneaky little buggers dragged the food under the building to get to it). 

I'm going back to try to get the kittens tonight - they weren't cooperating last night.  But tonight with a smelly gross mix of sardines and tuna (the real stuff), I'm sure I can tempt them out of their hiding spot.  They are actually hiding outside the gates so I can sit in my car and watch the traps all night if need be (inside grounds have to be escorted). 

The inmates and the corrections officers were absolutely fantastic and I thank them for their cooperation and more importantly, for their help.  They were happy to learn the cats can stay there after they are spayed/neutered and vaccinated -- no more trap and kill by animal control.  And when the guys told me about the fighting among the males, I explained that the majority of that should cease after they are neutered -- which is great because apparently Bobo and Blackie fight alot. 

I'm pretty sure there are more than 10 and we'll have to do staggered trapping (I went from 8:15 to 9:30 last night, would've stayed longer but caught 5 and that's all the appointments we had for today), but some of the cats come out after it's lights out in the courtyard, and some only come out at breakfast time.  We'll alternate trapping between the various members of the TNR Task Force and me and we will get those cats!  We've got the drop-traps for the hard to trap kitties.

We are very committed to this project as this is great not just for the cats, but for the inmates also.  There are a few guys with life sentences there and they love the cats and the cats are good for the inmates.  It's win-win. 

Now, I just have to work on getting more donations for this.