11 December 2009
Mimi lives in a pretty rough section of town. Yvonne's been caring for Mimi ever since her original benefactor was driven from the area by thug neighbors. Braving threats from free-roaming dogs, angry neighbors, and panhandlers, Yvonne has been supplying food for Mimi for many months since her original caretaker moved. Fearing for Mimi's safety and her own, Yvonne decided to retrap Mimi and provide her with a permanent home off of the streets. Retrapping cats is often difficult and Mimi, was not an exception . Mimi scoffed at conventional traps, and a failed attempt to secure her with a net had left her weary of being approached one.Yvonne contacted me in Sep. to see if we could catch her with the drop trap. We went out and I set up the drop trap and moved about 50 feet away. The string went around a small bit of sage brush. In what turned out to be a fateful and humongous rookie error, I failed to clear the string before she moved over to the trap. Immediately she showed interest and barely entered the trap. Sure that she would move to the back of the trap, I waited. She moved forward into the trap, and, as though she suddenly realized what it was she froze and started to turn. Had the string been running straight, I would have immediately sprung the trap because I could see she was going to move, but I hesitated, and in that instance she left the trap.
I fixed the string and we waited to no avail. On Saturdays, the mission down the street serves breakfast. Hundreds of free-roaming humans passed by making it impossible to get her. A four or five month old kitten continually poked its head out from a sewer grate across the street. I moved the drop trap and impressed the homeless crowd by bagging the kitten after only a minute or two. The next morning we returned even earlier to avoid the crowds. A skinny woman came walking down the street.Noticing the drop trap she started moving towards it. I jumped out of my truck and started into my spiel about trapping the cat so it could go live with Yvonne.
er sunken eyes grew as wide as saucers and she shrieked, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE CAT!" I realized that she was as high as a kite. The absurdity of trying to catch a feral cat at 4:00 AM in the middle of the hood sunk in and I burst out laughing. Horrified the woman quickly moved off, muttering and cursing.
Mimi studiously ignored the drop trap for over an hour. Another small black cat appeared and entered the trap. I decided to let it eat so that trapping it would not scare Mimi. Mistake #1 for the day. A larger black cat appeared and chased the smaller cat out. The larger black cat proceeded to eat all of the food in the trap and was in no hurry to get out of it. I finally ended up shooing him out of the trap! DOH! Mistake #2 for the day. Another hour passed and Mimi was clearly never going to enter the drop trap. Instead of having two black cats to NR, I was empty-handed, skunked! GRRRRR!!
Two mornings later we returned and Mimi still ignored the trap. I managed to catch the larger black cat who we had neutered and eventually returned. On yet another morning, we tried again while Mimi again ignored the drop trap. She was too well fed to fall for our shenanigans. We finally deemed that we needed to hatch a new plan. Nothing much happened for a couple of months. I couldn't drive by the area without cruising by to see if she was still there, sitting in the sage brush, and she usually was.
This week Yvonne called me and left a panicked message. She had found the carcass of the large black that cat we had TNR'd in Sep. The local thugs were allowing their dogs to roam unleashed and this one had fallen victim. The next morning I met her near the area and laid out the plan: I would go alone and set the drop trap and move off a good distance and wait in the truck. Yvonne would come 15 minutes later and place the bait into the trap, calling Mimi and making a big fuss.
I pulled up and unloaded the trap. Mimi was there, and she watched me intently, obviously waiting for a meal. I moved off about 150 feet away where I had a clear view of the trap. Eying the dangling pigeon feather in the trap, Mimi moved towards it. She sat right outside of it and regarded it curiously. A guy came walking down the street, spooking her away from the trap. GRRRR, I thought, "Here we go again!"Yvonne arrived, and instead of ignoring me and proceeding to the trap as I had expected, she parked behind me and walked up to the truck. I told her to pull up like she normally does and place the bait in the trap. She pulled up, and proceeded to park right in my line of sight so I could no longer see the drop trap! I got out of the truck and watched her bait the trap and attempt to lure Mimi to the trap. After several minutes Yvonne came back to me.Yvonne was short on time and had to leave for an appointment. I had little hope of our plan working. I told her to leave and I would watch the trap and see what happens. She continued to talk and I watched as Mimi moved towards the trap. She ducked her head under and regarded the foil bowl filled with turkey meat and tuna. I held my breath as she moved towards the food and then immediately sprung the trap when she was in position!
Serita and Yvonne were relieved because we now had Mimi safe. I was relieved because I had finally recovered from the initial mistake. People like Serita and Yvonne and have big hearts and I enjoy helping people like them and cats like Mimi when I can. I also really like getting the "one that got away"!
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