TNR/FERAL CATS
I sit and observe from above
As I have done for years and years.
I watch as some of us are abandoned,
Unsure of the new world they have been dropped into
Unsure of the cruelties they’ll face
And I watch as others are born;
forced to grow quickly to adapt to weather, violence, and hunger.
Already adapted to the ideas of how our world works.
I watch fights break out over lack off food;
Hunger drives the worst out of us all.
I watch as some try to beg only to be yelled at and and chased away,
But they will soon learn. Learn that our lives do not matter,
I did. It is how I survived. It is why I watch.
I watch us multiply after the cold melts away,
And see the young struggle to adjust.
Many do not survive as the cold returns.
I watch the process repeat as I have for years.
The outcome is unchanging. We only have ourselves.
But what if the outcome did change.
What if we did not multiply.
What if there were less of us to fight for that food.
What if we had places of warmth in the cold.
That is what happened. I saw.
I saw as they came and laid traps. The others did not listen to my wisdom
driven by the smell that laid inside and the ache in their core.
I saw the others get placed into moving cages
Cages that roared with power moved to where I could not watch.
I saw them return. I saw them run out of those traps
looking similar to how they entered.
The only difference is a nick in their ear and a change in our outcomes.
I am doing my pieces on TNR and the feral cat population. These two subjects are issues I feel close to after growing up in a rural area where feral cats are very common, and spaying and neutering is often ignored. The idea of TNR is to Trap feral cats, Neuter or spay them, and Release the stray cats back into the environment they were trapped in. The reason for releasing these cats rather than trying to have them adopted is that many feral cats are unable to adjust to humans. Because Of this, if they are introduced into shelters they are often unadoptable and either put down or forced to stay there the rest of their lives. I think that this is a great program and should have more awareness brought to it especially in rural areas. The first piece I did for this project is a collage. The collage had various cats, some of whom I fostered after they were either abandoned by humans or by their mothers. Cats are able to get pregnant as young as four months old and this sometimes causes them to abandon their kittens. It then becomes the jobs of foster parents to bottle feed and raise these kittens. I call this piece ‘The Importance of TNR’. My second piece is a poem from the view of a cat. This piece is meant to reach people on the struggles feral cats face and how TNR can help to resolve their issues. I call it ‘I Watch for New Outcomes’.