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Feb 24th 2007
Lowell Sun Article (PDF)
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Oct 04, 2006
Billerica nonprofit is cat's meow (DOC)

July 27, 2006
Cat care coalition donates oxygen masks for pets (PDF)

Editorial: The Power of Community Involvement
The Billerica Minuteman
Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Billerica's long history of civic participation and volunteerism has taken on yet another dimension, with the formation of the Billerica Cat Care Coalition.

Within just a few months, the coalition has enlisted the help of town officials, local businesses and veteran organizations such as Kitty Angels and the Merrimack Valley Feline Rescue Society.

The coalition's endeavors are all-encompassing, from gathering donated cat food from supermarket drop-off bins to training volunteers to trap cats to be brought in for veterinary care.

This year, the coalition will also be a presence at the Yankee Doodle Homecoming Festival, the town's annual celebration of civic pride and participation.

In short, the coalition shows concern for animals, and something more - a willingness to work with the community to address a problem.

It isn't hard to evoke concern and even outrage about the plight of animals that are lost, abandoned or mistreated. The challenge is to channel those feelings into action that is effective and appropriate.

Concern for animals must also be tempered with realism. In an article in last week's Billerica Minuteman, Animal Control Officer Deedee Murphy praised the help she has received from coalition volunteers, but noted that education is crucial. There are many well-meaning people, she noted, who take in animals but cannot afford to feed or house them, much less pay for expensive veterinarian's bills.We praise the coalition's ongoing efforts to provide those who want to help animals with many ways in which to do so. 

Feral felines find friends and food
The Billerica Minuteman, By Margaret Smith/ Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 18, 2004

At the Hawley residence, 4 p.m. is suppertime.

One by one, cats begin to congregate, slipping quietly along the driveway or out of the grass, making their way toward a collection of aluminum and plastic pans.

They are a riot of colors - patchwork calico, orange-striped and gray. Some are slinky and slender, others hefty with deep-pile coats of fluff.

One bears the handsome chocolate brown face mask and the white paws of a Birman, a sought-after breed related to the Siamese and Himalayans, and a frequent sight at cat shows.

But these feline dinner guests are not primped for pageantry. Some are feral - complete strangers to domestic life that eke out an existence hunting small rodents or foraging for food scraps.

All the cats and kittens that gather at the Hawley's have names, but only a few can rightly be called house cats, explained Theresa Hawley, who for 20 years has cared for stray animals.

"We had a female cat at the end of our street, years and years ago," said Hawley, who said the abandoned cat was most likely the matriarch of several generations of cats. "They were never spayed, so they just took over the neighborhood." Hawley, who also adopted a large, loping female malamute, chuckled, "They have come here, with signs saying, 'Take us in.' Someone's got to do it."

Recently, Hawley became part of a new organization, the Billerica Cat Care Coalition, whose mission is to provide humane solutions to the problem of stray and feral cats.

The coalition, which is seeking non-profit status, consists of volunteers whose activities include trapping cats to be spayed and neutered by area veterinarians. The idea behind the practice is to let the cats live in their outdoor environment but not to reproduce. The coalition seeks adoptive homes for the kittens of feral cats through the cooperative efforts of area shelters and the town.

The coalition has also enlisted the help of town officials and of businesses.

"Our good boxes are overflowing at all the Market Baskets in town," said Sharon Du Bois, a volunteer for the office of the animal control officer who spearheaded the coalition's formation.

Hawley is among the volunteers who manage cat colonies, where the same cats live and gather for food each day. Many of the cats in her colony are related. Some have bivouacked on her property and can be seen lounging in the shade of trees or seeking cover from the elements in a nearby barn. A few have even become sociable enough to give life indoors a try.

One of Hawley's latest charges, a fuzzy, three-week-old, charcoal-black kitten named Mouse, greets visitors with a rumbling purr punctuated by staccato mews that earned him his name. Mouse is the lone survivor of a litter of kittens abandoned for unknown reasons by their mother, Maybelline. Mouse, who has become a favorite of fellow volunteers, has been doing well, said Hawley, who hopes in time to find him a good home. The plight of deserted and orphaned kittens is a familiar one to Hawley, who recalled feeding many kittens formula from tiny bottles.

Animal Control Officer Deedee Murphy said the volunteers' efforts have helped address a pervasive problem. "They help ease the burden of the 'cat calls,'" said Murphy. When she gets calls about stray or feral cats and kittens, Murphy, turning to Hawley and Du Bois, said, "I call people like this to help."

Murphy has no estimates on the number of stray and feral cats in town, but it runs in the hundreds. She said cats are harder to track than dogs because the town does not require cats to be licensed. She said it's difficult find homes for the plethora of cats. "You can get a dog adopted or put in foster care, because there are not as many."

Du Bois, who works at the City of Lawrence Office of Planning and Development, held a meeting in May at the Billerica Public Library at which town residents could discuss ways to help the cats. Volunteers from surrounding communities shared their experiences, as did representatives from long-standing organizations such as the Salisbury-based Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society.

Since that meeting, Du Bois said the coalition has attracted new members and will soon launch a Web site. The coalition plans to have a table along with other civic groups in town at the annual Yankee Doodle Homecoming festival in September. Events such as a chocolate-tasting party are planned to raise money and awareness of the coalition's work.
Murphy said volunteers must be well-educated about proper care of the cats.

"You have people managing colonies, and you have collectors - hoarders," Murphy said. "They mean well, and they want to protect the animals, but they don't have any money."

Any gathering of breeding-age cats always brings the risk of new litters of kittens before there's a chance to have the cats spayed or neutered.

Murphy said volunteers must face the reality that they cannot protect outdoor cats from every potential hazard, including hawks and other predatory birds.

One of the coalition's aims is to provide prospective volunteers with knowledge they need to help cats without getting themselves into financial trouble or creating tensions with neighbors.

"If your neighbors are cool, you can have a nice colony," Murphy said.

Caring for feral cats can become a job in its own right. Both Hawley and Du Bois laughed and said they do have lives outside their volunteer work. Hawley runs House of Hats, a screening and printing business, with her husband George, and has an adult daughter and son.

Du Bois said there are likely untold numbers of people doing what they can to help stray and feral animals on their own. Hawley said she is glad the coalition formed as a way to educate and to network with others care about animals. "It's been a way to make friends," she said. "Everybody has the same goals."