Animal Dreams For The "Wildcats" Of The County
Anyone old enough to remember the Disney classic "Lady and the Tramp," was introduced to a night world of animals who roam the streets, creating mischief and mayhem. The reality, of course, is a little different, and that is where Yvonne Borsody comes in. "Cats seem to find me," muses Borsody, a former veterinary technician whose love of animals has moved her to a larger calling. "I was taking a class at BCC one night and saw a scrawny kitten near the dumpster. It ran away and I realized it must be a feral." The dictionary defines feral as "untamed; undomesticated; hence, wild; savage." Feral cats come in many gradations, says Borsody, who has been feeding and caring for the local populations ever since that evening a year and a half ago. Some are domestic cats whose owners have abandoned them - an all-to-common scenario, even in the affluent areas of South County. Some were born in the wild, from unneutered wild cats, and have never been around humans. "In the past year I trapped 52 cats in Great Barrington. Eighty percent of them came from within a block of Main Street. Imagine how many more there are on farms and in barns. This is an issue that is finally starting to be addressed nationally." Okay, backup. Trapped? "I was up at 5:30 this morning to do some trapping. It’s the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing at night, often late into the evening. The ferals come out at night when human activity decreases. They come out when everything is quiet and go to the dumpsters and feeding stations." The work of this unpaid volunteer, whose effort is called "Animal Dreams," is to trap and track feral cats, take them to a vet for altering, vaccinations and testing for disease, and then release them again, setting up feeding stations in those areas. The idea is that their quality of life can be protected while they aren’t reproducing, and over successive generations the population will decline. Borsody showed me a list of twenty donors or sponsors. Donations pay for the vet bills, and sponsors get to name the cats they sponsor. North Plain Veterinary Clinic of Housatonic gives a discount on their services, and, according to Broody are among the few veterinarians who are willing to serve the feral population. "A feral cat may look like a domestic cat, but they're a wild animal. When you get one in a trap, they go wild. They can't be handled by humans." The vet must sedate the animal while they're in the trap and work on them while they're under anesthesia. Great Barrington Agway and Chez Pets supply the pet food and many Great Barrington businesses have been supportive, according to Borsody. When they've tested clear for feline leukemia and feline immuno-deficiency virus, and inoculated against rabies, the cats are altered - perhaps the most important feature of Borsody's work. "If everybody who had a cat would spay or neuter them, this would be much less of a problem," says Borsody. "Where there are cats that are unaltered, there will be feral colonies." So, if they're wild animals, can't they take care of themselves? An abandoned or feral cat has no defense against frostbite, predators, starvation and disease, according to Borsody. "Some get into the engines of cars for warmth." Enough said. After being altered the cat's ears are notched for identification in the future. Borsody keeps scrupulous records on each cat, including when and where she found them, and how often she sees them on feeding rounds. She files every cat's proof of rabies inoculation. She even takes them back to the vet when their rabies shots need to be updated. All of this is a lot for one person. "It is very labor intensive," she says. She has help from one or two volunteers, but is looking for others to help her with her work. She hopes to expand and create a non-profit organization that would be eligible for grant funding. Her real animal dream? To track and map the entire feral population of Berkshire County. I don't think she's dreaming. To donate or volunteer, contact Yvonne Borsody at animal_dreams@juno.com or call (414) 528-1328.
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