A Thai Buddhist temple in Ontario with a major homeless cat problem recently got some help from a diverse team of cat lovers – FixNation’s TNR expert Joe Federico, three volunteer trappers, the owner of a high desert cat sanctuary, a generous local veterinarian, and students and staff from Western University. Sometimes it takes a village!
The Thai Buddhist Temple in Ontario is known for its distinctive architecture, serene grounds, orange-robed monks and – most recently – a growing colony of several dozen homeless kitties, many of which were abandoned and somehow found their way to temple.
With the best of intentions, the monks regularly set out leftover food for the cats, but this wasn’t an optimal or long-term solution, especially once the cats discovered the irresistible sandboxes of the elementary school next door to the temple. There were complaints. Many complaints.
Fearful that someone might eventually call Animal Control, Kevin Rice – a member of the local Thai community and the owner of a high desert cat sanctuary – reached out to FixNation for advice and some much needed hands-on help.
This joint mission was a challenging one – to trap and fix as many temple cats as possible, then relocate them to the safety of the sanctuary.
For part one of this daunting project, Joe enlisted the help of two experienced trappers, Christine and Helen, as well as Kevin’s nephew Dylan. This determined four-person “field team” managed to catch a total of 33 cats in FixNation’s loaner traps – 27 adults and six kittens. Only a few of these cats were spayed or neutered.
Part two: The cats were transported to Dr. Cynthia Kinney and her medical team at the Inland Valley Shelter, where they were fixed and ear-tipped and given fluids, flea medication, anti-parasitic injections and FVRCP and rabies vaccines. Some of the cats had injuries and received additional treatment and surgery.
Part three: Post-surgery, the cats were loaded back into FixNation’s van, transported to the cat sanctuary in the high desert and released. They are now settled into their new haven, where they are completely safe and well cared for, with regular meals of proper cat food (instead of white rice and other “people food” not suitable for felines).
But the story doesn’t end there.
In part four of this saga, Kevin showed the monks how to properly feed the handful of cats that still remain on the temple grounds. A group of students from Western University have also offered to create a long-term plan for improving relations between the local community and the temple cats, stabilizing the colony with additional TNR and – hopefully – helping to prevent an influx of new cats from nearby colonies.
“This was a multi-day project that involved a lot of logistics, a lot of driving and a lot of hours,” Joe said. “It was a team effort, with everyone doing their part to help these cats, and together we succeeded.”
Thanks to everyone for all their hard work!
