Ontario Feral Cats Trap-Neuter-Return Project

Ontario Feral Cats Trap-Neuter-Return Project Meeting Notes October 14, 2009 Present: Sandra Hess, Mary Jo (MJ) Kee, Wendy Roberts, Anne Wickersham, Lindsay Norman, Dave Brown, Elizabeth Lyon Next meeting: Not Determined. Trapper training session to be held November 1, 2009 at 2:00 at Elizabeth and Dave’s. Info to follow. I. Fundraising Donations are at $2,956!  Wal-Mart Pet Safety Month o Saturdays 9:00am to 3:00pm October 17 & 24. We CANNOT sell stuff. We can have information and ask for donations. We can also give stuff away with donations: small treat with $1 or more, t-shirt with $20 or more, etc. $62.40 was raised on Oct. 10 at Wal-Mart. o We will have t-shirts on Friday 10/16. o We need volunteers to work Wal-Mart on the 17th and 24th, it mostly involves talking to people.  New Ideas o Christmas Bazaars.  Anne got info about Holiday Inn. They were willing to give us a discount; $20 for the table for 2 days, Nov 13 and 14. We need volunteers. Will probably be busy.  MJ will check out bazaar at Fairgrounds. Publicity o Argus Observer. Can run announcements (of meetings, events, etc.) for free. Status updates and thank-yous would run as paid ads.  Elizabeth will talk to Jessica about interest in doing a story on the November TNR. o Radio. Radio ads are running for two weeks. o We decided on aqua print for shirts, will have t-shirts, sweaters and hoodies available for sale or LARGE donations. Printing donated by Anne’s aunt. We will pay for the cost of the shirts(she’s giving us a deal). o Newsletter presented for review and comments. III. Trial Project o Determined that we will trap Joe Dominick’s colony first. There are 10 – 12 cats. o MJ will talk to Mike about how we can go about getting funds released for this trial project. o Preparation:  Make contact with colony caregiver(s) Anne contacted caregiver on Thursday 10/15. She is very cooperative, but wants us to be careful about her own cats. o Round up and purchase traps o Identify and get an accurate count of animals in colony(caregiver and others) o Make sure that animals are being regularly fed (Cat food donations?) II. o Train trappers. Scheduled for 11/1/2009 o Veterinarians will designate target Neuter days/times (a two day slot at most). Target day is November 6, with follow-up care (if necessary) on Nov. 7. o Notify neighbors about trap event. We didn’t talk about this, but it will need to be done sometime between now and Nov. 5! o Prepare holding area. November 4 o Organize volunteers for animal care and transport. Do at training meeting on Nov. 1 o TNR Nov. 5!