Kitten Paparazzi

I was poking around a feeding station at a colony where we were preparing to trap when I met Greg. He demanded to know what I was doing as he had previously seen attempts at poisoning the cats with antifreeze at a nearby location. When I told him I was scouting the area in preparation for TNR, he quickly warmed up. I found out that Greg was sick with lung cancer. In another six weeks he would need to go to Tuscon for several weeks of treatment. One of the cats he feeds, "Sleepy" was neutered long ago, but Greg wanted to catch him so he could be moved to a cat sanctuary. Greg had been caring for Sleepy since 2001, and he was worried about his long-term prospects living in the wash. Sleepy had foiled repeated attempts to catch him using standard traps. Having been trapped before, he would not go in one again. I told Greg about my drop trap and we decided to give it a shot.

On a Tuesday night, Greg, Joe from SOS and I assembled near Sleepy's hangout. Armed with walkie-talkies and a couple hundred feet of pull cord, we setup the drop trap near his feeding spot on a flat piece of ground. Greg was concerned that Sleepy might not climb up the six feet to go to the drop trap but I assured him it would be OK. We baited it with some yummy human tuna and took our positions. Joe and Greg moved further up the wash where they could observe Sleepy and the drop trap from a distance. I moved down the wash and descended into to it so I could move to a place where Sleepy could no longer see that I was there.
In less than a minute, Joe radioed me that Sleepy was in the trap. Heart racing, I poked my head up ever so slowly so  that I could verify that he was in a good position. Satisfied that he was completely underneath the trap, I pulled the rope connected to the stick that was propping up the trap. Weather stripping dampened the sound of the drop trap falling, but the prop stick made and extremely loud noise! Sleepy's buddy went bounding up the wash in alarm! I felt a surge of adrenaline race through me as I scrambled up the wash to get to the trap.

Feral cats go wild when confined and it's important to immediately cover them so they calm down. Being somewhat tame, Sleepy was rather non-plussed at being confined by the trap. He absolutely refused to exit the drop trap into the transfer trap. Recognizing the trap from being confined when he was neutered before, he ignored our repeated attempts at cajoling, pleading, prodding, and poking by steadfastly laying down in the center of the trap. Joe summed up all our feelings succinctly, "If only you knew what trouble three grown men were going through for you on a Tuesday night!"

After nearly an hour we decided to cut a small hole in the drop trap mesh in order to reach into the trap. I had some heavy leather gardening gloves. Joe attempted to prod Sleepy to no avail. I finally took the glove reached through the slit and grabbed all 12 lbs of Sleepy by the scruff like he was my baby kitten. Fortunately, Sleepy was quite friendly and gave in like a kitten. I unceremoniously dragged him into the the transfer trap without him hissing or attempting to bite me etc..

It took anthother two trips to the wash to catch Sleepy's pal but we got him too! The next night we returned to discover a cat that Greg had never seen before had moved right into Sleepy's spot! Talk about the vacuum effect! We returned a third time and spotted Sleepy's pal. I watched with binoculars from across the wash while Joe hid out of site with the string. He watched me warily from across the wash, but since I was so far away, after a couple of minutes he went right into the trap. I used the walkie talkie to tell Joe to pull the stick and we got him!

Both cats were relocated to the Happy Home Animal Sanctuary in Searchlight, NV much to Greg's relief..