Grant Received! The TNR begins!

Just this past May Cindy Balsm and her TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) organization “Cats Cry Too” were  awarded  a Grant, called "Neighbors Helping Neighbors Grant".   This grant is geared to a specific Neighborhood in Leamington Ontario.

The Above picture is of some of the cats Cindy recently had fixed under the Grant she received.

 The boundaries for the area this grant covers is  Talbot Street, Lutsch Street, Oak Street, Erie Street.  And currently Cindy has concentrated on a block on Setterington St. and 2 blocks on Orange St., and also trapping on Robinson Street and Bowman street so far.

Cindy has lived in this neighbourhood for 21 years so she knows the area well.  Jogging in the evening or driving through the streets at night she would see a lot of roaming cats

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Then the more Cindy became involved and receiving numerous calls from people, she could really see how huge the problem was in that area.   So in order to apply for the grant and show there was a need, Cindy went door to door with a petition and was able to confirm the huge problem.

The committee was very interested in such a proposal because it was unique and they were not at all aware there was such a problem with cats in the Mill Street neighbourhood.

The grant doesn't cover a lot of cats to get fixed but it is a start and the committee wanted this to be a pilot project. A volunteer has been enlisted to create a spreadsheet to help Cindy,  so they can keep a record of the cats, their addresses where trapped, colour, picture, Chip ID#, date of surgery, etc.

As for the trapping, Cindy gets the assistance of the neighbors and leaves specific instructions and gives a little training on how to trap the cats safely, and this is how the cats have been getting caught within this neighbourhood.  Cindy then picks up the cats and takes them to the Humane Society where they are “altered”.  Then Cindy or her associate picks up the cats.  Cindy does keep them for a day to ensure there are no complications. And then they are released back where they were trapped.

Cindy is excited and is getting lots of support.  The People are only too happy to have them fixed so they do not reproduce!  Cindy has also given food that has been donated to help feed these outside guys.

Since being awarded with this grant program, Cindy has fixed 11 cats within the boundaries of this grant with more to come, and 17 cats this past week with the help of private donations.

We will continue to update more on other cats fixed within the Grant...but also updating on fixed cats that are not within the grant but through private donations and community support.