48 TODAY’S CATHOLIC JANUARY 2, 2009LOCALLOCAL

BY CAROL BAASS SOWATODAY’S CATHOLIC

SAN ANTONIO • Bonnie and Clyde were successfully cap-tured by a special “posse” at St. Mary’s University (StMU) on a Sunday evening in October. “The little outlaws were trapped in about half an hour,” reported an e-mail from the “head wrangler” to a growing list of interested parties.

The captured duo, four-pawed critters of the feline variety, were promptly whisked off for spaying/neutering, vacci-nations, microchips and ear-tipping, before being released as part of the For Paws trap-neuter-return (TNR) program on campus.

Founded on the Catholic and Marianist belief that all life has value and should be treated with dignity and respect, For Paws’ two-fold mission is to improve the health and well-being of homeless cats on the StMU cam-pus through long-term care and management, as well as educat-ing the campus and surrounding community about responsible and humane relationships with animals who share our commu-nities and our world.

For Paws got its start in 2003 when the university gave per-mission to a group of concerned persons on campus to initiate the TNR program in response to the increasing number of cats roaming and being fed on campus.

“There is, as everyone knows, a terrible problem here in San Antonio with too many ani-mals and not enough homes,” said Caroline Byrd, associate director of the StMU Louis J. Blume Library and co-director of For Paws. “So we’re trying to work, in our little corner of the universe, to change that.” The local animal control facility is still having to euthanize around 37,000 animals a year, she noted — not sick or injured animals, but homeless, abandoned pets and their offspring.

Comprised of StMU staff, faculty and students, For Paws’ TNR program is a non-lethal means of controlling the feral and stray cat population. Trained volunteers maintain and monitor the cats to ensure a healthy colony, with socialized cats being adopted out as part of the program and the truly feral ones remaining on campus where they are fed by the group in a designated area. (One ear of the released feral cats is slightly clipped at the veterinarian’s to signify neutering.)

Studies have shown that a given area will reach a stable

feral cat population, but removal of cats from an area creates a

vacuum, with new cats moving in. “We are a struggling little area and it’s

economically very hard times for everybody,”

said Byrd. “Right now we are seeing what I call ‘left behind’ cats.”

About half the sur-rounding neighbor-

hood is rental property,

with a high turnover

rate, and there is also an older population who can no longer look after pets or pass on, leav-ing them behind as well. Many are hard-pressed financially, so fail to have their animals spayed or neutered, while others are uninformed and don’t realize the need to do so in order to prevent a population explosion of unwanted animals.

Byrd noted three recent cats brought to the group were found scrounging for food on campus by students. “They’re friendly animals; they clearly were some-one’s pets,” she said, adding they had obviously been abandoned when someone moved or could no longer afford to feed them. “This is getting to be a real struggle for people,” she said. “And we’ve not seen the bottom of this for sure. We think we’re going to be quite busy the next couple of years.”

As of mid-December, 122 cats had gone through For Paws’ TNR program, with around 50 having been adopted out. Only about a dozen remain in the colony on campus, where they are watched after and fed by the group in a designated area. The remainder of the cats released through the program presum-ably disappear into the neigh-borhood, where they will at least no longer multiply.

Though For Paws has pretty much exhausted cat adoption possibilities among faculty and staff at this point, they discour-age student adoptions, pointing out to the students that they will eventually be graduating and moving away. Students were at first wary of helping the new cat group on campus and Byrd learned earlier efforts by campus personnel to trap cats (which were then turned over the pound for euthanization) had failed because students were secretly releasing them from the traps.

“So we had to work really hard with the students,” she said, “to show we are not going to do that; we are going to take care of these cats.” The group speaks to students in the residence halls as part of their “one cat at a time” outreach, making them aware that they can be part of the solution to the problem of unwanted animals. They also maintain an e-mail list of over 140 interested persons.

One of the more memorable cat stories occurred on a hot summer day in 2007, when a groundskeeper dumping brush discovered a mother cat and six kittens (one already dead) in a box in the dumpster by V.J. Keefe Field. He immediately contacted For Paws. The group took them in for emergency medical treatment and fostered them, eventually finding homes for all “The Dumpster Kittens,” as they were dubbed, and the lovable calico mother they named Hope. “It was ironic,” noted Byrd, “because they went to rather wealthy parts of town. These poor little West Side kit-tens, dumpster kittens, ended up doing quite well in life!”

Then there was Bevo, a wary orange and white cat Byrd tracked on campus for two years before finally managing to catch in one of the group’s three humane cage traps. An expert “cat trapper” at this point in the game, she had tried every conceivable kind of food to entice the furry fellow into the trap before luring him in with an aromatic can of mackerel. Following a trip to the vet for the For Paws “basics,” this feral-to-the-core feline was released back on campus, where he still recognizes and regards his trapper with disdain when their paths cross.

The For Paws Web site, http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/circ/Paw/ForPaws.html, chron-

icles recent cat-catching success stories: “Spooky was rescued by Campus Police and students from under the hood of a car on Sept. 25, 2008. He was tested, vac-cinated and neutered. Spooky has found a loving home.” “Spice was trapped by the Math-Engineering building on Aug. 26, 2008. He was neutered and returned to campus.”

The site also features a memo-rial page where campus cats who have passed on have dona-tions made in their memory. (Do-nations can be made in memory of other cats there as well.)

“We do the best we can,” said Byrd, “and we’re good to the cats, but there are forces outside our control.” Running free, there is the ever-present threat of death under the wheels of a car and a couple of cats have been killed by stray dogs over the years.

With the onset of colder weather, For Paws sets out special insulated shelters for the cats with two openings to provide easy access/exit for those who fear being trapped, but which are small enough to keep out large animals.

For Paws has a cadre of 20-25 who, as Byrd puts it, can be called on “in a heartbeat” should a volunteer be needed. This in-cludes Nettie Lucio, co-director of For Paws, who also works in the Blume Library, and Nettie’s husband Joe. (Joe was on duty in the library the Sunday “The Dumpster Kittens” were found.)

The group has significant sup-porters as well, one of the more prominent being noted artist Brother Cletus Behlmann, SM, who graciously designed and donated For Paws’ distinctive logo of colorful cats traipsing in front of the StMU skyline.

Students, faculty and staff donate cat food and the group raises funds through the sale of logo T-shirts, tote bags and other items sold online, as well as at the campus library.

Last spring, they came up with For Paws Fiesta ribbons that sold out in a day. Their Christ-mas fundraiser offered hand-made ornaments designed by Nettie, featuring photos of For Paws felines and logo, and were eagerly snapped up by campus shoppers, selling out midway through the three-day sale.

And For Paws is not alone in their mission. Byrd credits the San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition for getting their group off to a good start training-wise.

Trinity University and UTSA also maintain feral cat colonies, she notes, and Our Lady of the Lake University is starting one. “We consider ourselves part of the larger animal rescue com-munity here in San Antonio,” she said. “We’re working with a lot of other groups to make a dif-ference here in any way we can.”

StMU alliance ministers to a special group of God’s creatures

Patches, Spice and Victor are three of StMU’s feral cats looked after by For Paws. Patches and Spice, like Cien, pictured below with Brother Robert Wood, SM, live on campus, while Victor was able to be fostered for adoption. Brother Cletus Behlmann, SM, designed For Paws’ logo, right.