There's always one... or more. Ugh. While feeding my Bergen Street colony a few months back I noticed a straggler amongst the group. A brown tabby, who looked just like Gnocchi (aka Mr. Eye), kept showing up during my feeding hours. I assumed he was Gnocchi's brother and put him on my list of felines to trap in the future, but unfortunately didn't do it immediately.
A few weeks ago I noticed the newbie had gotten quite chubby and quickly realized that he was a she, and she was preggers. Damnit! I wrangled help from Maria, a fellow Slope Street Cats volunteer, to help me trap the preggo eggo on a cold and rainy Wednesday night.
We set up two steel box traps, along with a drop trap. A drop trap is this MacGuyver-like contraption that lets you trap specific, hard-to-get kitties. It consists of a large, lightweight wood frame covered in netting on all sides but the bottom. It's propped up on one side by a stick, and food (stinky sardines and tuna work best) is placed under it and towards the back. The trapper stands at a distance, holding a string attached to the stick. When your targeted cat starts eating from under the trap you pull the string which yanks the stick out and drops (hence the name) the trap. The cat is trapped within.
The drop trap has a small wooden door that can be slid open. By placing a box trap door-to-door with the drop trap the cat will enter the portable box trap thinking it's an exit. Bam! You've got your cat in a carrier ready to be taken to the ASPCA mobile clinic.
Sitting in our parked car, with the string from the propped piece of wood coming in through the sunroof, Maria and I gossiped as we waited for our victim to go under the drop trap. Over the course of two hours we saw Mr. Big, along with Gray Girl, plus a totally NEW cat. Argh! Another cat who needs to trapped. Unfortunately this big gray boy was too skiddish to go under the trap and had no interest in the box traps rigged around the lot.
By 10 o'clock we decided to wrap things up. When I went to pick up the box trap I had set up in our previous sweet spot, who was trapped inside but our special girl. I started laughing thinking of Maria and me staring at the drop trap when all along this lady was already done munching on her sardines and looking for an exit strategy.
how can i contact you? i am caring for one (or two) abandoned cats a block away on dean street.
thanks so much and many blessings for all your good work.
lisa zure
Posted by: Lisa Zure | August 03, 2008 at 09:10 PM