A thick skin and a strong stomach are prerequisites for a volunteer role that involves...
Hungry, a female cat is lured into a trap with sardines and catnip at a local park Friday, March 4. Monica Caballero, 53, with the San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition, set the trap to capture the cat in order to spay it.Her eyes fixed on the heavily pregnant tuxedo cat emerging from a thicket about 20 feet away, Monica Caballero said the fetuses would be aborted. Between the two, she said, death would be more merciful than life in a local park.
The tuxedo cat tentatively approached the trap, a conglomeration of mesh and PVC piping propped up by a narrow wood plank set by Caballero minutes before. Her desire for a full belly had overcome her initial suspicion. Hunger, Caballero knew, is a powerful motivating force. Given the opportunity, no animal — especially not an expectant mother — will pass up a meal.
Caballero had the feline’s best interests at heart. But the cat had no way of knowing that. She hissed as she was transferred into a pet carrier, her body tense and eyes wide with fright. Since Derdak began keeping records in 2010, she estimates the coalition has subsidized surgery on more than 37,141 cats, preventing an untold number of births. Without organizations such as the coalition, Lisa Norwood, public relations and outreach manager for Animal Care Services, said, “There’d be cats on every corner.”“We’re just making a very small dent in the problem,” Derdak said.
Caballero was taking a walk one day in fall 2010 through the same park where she would eventually trap the expectant mother when she saw a flurry of cats running toward a car. It was clear, Caballero said, they recognized the driver, a woman who distributed food as Caballero watched. Inspired by her altruism, Caballero took a class on TNR methodology and started caring for ownerless cats herself. She now spends anywhere from 14 to 20 hours per week at it.
Like many caregivers, Caballero and fellow volunteer Yvonne Saldivar were raised around animals — Caballero as the daughter of a farm boy and Saldivar as a former vet tech for the military. It troubles them to see people wantonly killing cats or police officers dismissing such killings as inconsequential.Monica Caballero, 53, with the San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition, sets up a trap to catch a female cat at an area park Friday, March 4.
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