Introducing the Big Daddy Colony: TNR in Avondale
Kim and Joann trapped last week with great success: fifteen cats and kittens trapped so far, and there’s a lot more.
Kim reached out to me this year about her neighborhood. Joann and Kim started trapping and working through her area in Avondale last week.
Kim trapped two kittens and a male feral cat. Once the kittens were spayed/neutered, the feeder adopted them into her home. The male feral cat was TNReturned outside.
She also trapped a sick cat that visited her yard sporadically. She has been trying to trap him for over a year, and believes he finally went in the trap because he was so sick. She called him Big Daddy, and the colony is named in his honor. Big Daddy was taken to Roscoe Village Animal Hospital, where after a thorough examination and tests, they all made the hard decision to humanely euthanize him because he was just too sick. RIP Big Daddy.
Joann trapped along with Kim throughout the neighborhood and saw a lot of cats and talked to a lot of feeders. Some TNR was done here before by Erica from PAWS Chicago and other volunteers, because they saw a mix of ear tipped and non-ear tipped cats. Kim has also trapped 22 cats visiting her yard in the past two years.
They trapped this beautiful TNR’d cat a few times, who also loves to pose. Her name is Georgita.
And a lot of non-ear tipped cats.
A lot of these cats are fed by a man named George. George feeds these cats no matter what, and also tries to impede trapping. He moved the traps, closed them, and did everything he could to stop them. George is an outdoor hoarder and there’s nothing we can do but to work around him and wait until he leaves.
Joann and Kim also discovered that this restaurant feeds other cats. Check out these cats waiting for their dinner in back!
The restaurant employees and several people throughout the neighborhood were all for TNR. Joann and Kim talked to a lot of neighbors and found out a lot of people feed and were concerned for the cats. TNR always involves community outreach, and more people that live in this area need to help trap. They also discovered a few other hot spots that we are hoping to work on, with colonies of 10-12 cats. In all, Kim has estimated there may be up to 50 cats within these few blocks.
They trapped in a few people’s yards and near where George feeds. So despite his ongoing efforts to stop them from trapping, they trapped eleven more cats and kittens. That means these cats are hungry. They range in all kinds of ages and litters.
All of these cats are currently at PAWS’ clinic for TNR surgery. Some of these orange cats look absolutely identical.
If you know of anyone that lives in Avondale and cares for cats that can TNR, or would like to help us in any way, please contact us at the link above or at [email protected] , or call 773-609-2287