Sunday, December 21, 2008

No Luck with the Starving Calico

I tried to catch that starving calico in the night. I saw her in the field, north of 34, between 99E and the off ramp from 34 to 99E. I watched her, white against the night, climb up under the overpass and try to curl up on the freezing concrete. I couldn't take it. How very very sad.

I set a trap and checked it every three hours. Nothing. She's vanished. I walked all the triangles this morning, before the traffic began, searching for a sign of her. Nothing. I had left out food also last night, in a few spots. Most was still there this morning. But one pile was gone. She had not returned to the overpass.

Like the last calico I trapped there a year ago, almost to the day, she seems to have vanished into thin air. Or she died. Although it is a balmy 40 degrees out, my hands nearly froze as I walked, from the freezing wind laced in cold mist.

I finally caught the calico a year ago there, just after Christmas. It was a long haul, because, she too would suddenly vanish, like a ghost. Gone. I figured her dead too, so maybe this one, a fire calico, whose orange spots are few and bright fire in color, will survive. I have determined instead of trapping her I will first try to build her up some, by feeding her. I left food in many locations. Like I say, it is one huge area and trying to intercept her with a trap before she frequents one area, means I have to engage in guesswork.

I know where a male is hanging out, however. I ran into him on a side road yesterday afternoon. He too is a stray in the area. My guess is they must cling to one another at night for warmth or they'd both be dead by now. She has to have somewhere she goes out of the weather, or the first very cold snap ten days ago would have already killed her. She's run down badly, however. I need to check the roads, see if she was hit in the night. I checked in the night, at the last time I checked the trap, but not yet this morning.

For now, I have given up trapping her and will feed her, and make warm small housing units available to her, if she's still alive. I take these up later if I catch a cat. Don't worry, I don't litter.

When they get so cold, they lose concentration, which, if living in such a dangerous area between many many busy roads, is often mercifully fatal.

4 comments:

  1. I have been reading your blog for a little while and just wanted to say thank you for doing so much good for the cats in your area. I am a student in Toronto and have one adopted cat from a shelter. She has a few tell-tale scars of neglect from her previous life with a cat hoarder and now makes my life infinitely better every day. Because of school I can't afford to care for another animal right now (though I wish so much that I could) but am so grateful for people like you who sacrifice so much for animals that are so, so mistreated by so many. I made an admittedly small donation to Poppa - I hope it can help your work a bit. Thank you so much - I hope you have a Merry Christmas and please say hello to all the lucky cats that you have saved.

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  2. Thanks Avery. Thank you.

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  3. I know I for one certainly didn't even think about any questions about littering...only about how wonderful you are to care about the calico!

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  4. i think its terrific too - of course, you already know that...and if you do manage to get Callie please letl us know...i will do what i can to help with any expenses for her...

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