Saturday, June 09, 2018

Original Drop Trap Creator

Drop traps are all the rage now in TNR cat trapping.

I wonder if people know, a woman named Laura first developed the drop trap for cat trapping.

She ran Hubcats, in Boston back then.   I don't know where she is now.

I'd like to say a thank you to her.  People will never know it was her who first made this fantastic contraption.  Now they're sold at Tomahawk.

Her father would build the traps she sold.  She sent me one for free however.

They were much lighter weight and easier to use than the current version sold at Tomahawk, through Community Cats.

Made of wood and netting, with the sides hinged, I could quickly flip it open for set up. The transfer door was on the side of the front, making them far less space consuming, and with the transfer door in that location one could transfer cats to carriers and to non transfer traps alike.

That was years and years ago.

I met Laura once.  She invited me to a TNR conference to be held in San Francisco.  I had no money to spare and no nonprofit either at that time.  She said we could share a motel room and she'd pay for it.  She was flying in from Boston.

I thought I'd just drive down.  The conference was only Friday night and Saturday, I think it was.  Ok.  I drove down on Friday.  The trip was incredibly difficult on me and long.   The hours wore at me, driving that far, already tired.  My back hurt so bad after just two hours.  I had to stop repeatedly to stretch out my back.  I paid a pet sitter $100, which was hard for me to come up with then, to watch my cats.  I had very few cats then and lived in Corvallis.

I remember the thrill I got, coming over from the I5 freeway, from Sacramento, to Oakland and coming around a bend or hill, in traffic, to see the bay bridge, and the city of San Francisco, lit up across the bay.   It was a sight!

I finally got there and met Laura for the first time, the woman who created the drop trap, and had sent me one for nothing, to use.  A hero of mine!

I went to the conference but my tiredness fast overwhelmed me.  The director of the FCCO was there, giving a speech.  In my daze I thought how nice it would have been to just get on a plane to fly down as she did.  I had to excuse myself within two hours, as I was falling asleep and went to the motel room and slept through the remainder of the conference.  Isn't that ironic.

I met Laura that night for dinner with her friends from New York's Community Cats.  I had never met anyone from New York before.  I thought how sophisticated, smart and hip they seemed.

I drove back on Monday I think it was.  I stopped at Lake Shasta to stretch my back out again, I remember that, and wished, I remember, I had something along I could wear to take a quick swim.

The trip was later a blur to think about, three days of exhaustion.  I was glad I met Laura.  She was a pioneer and will never get her do, for designing something now frequently used by many many people.  She was also very humble, I remember, so she would want nothing but the satisfaction of its usefulness to so many.   I can't for the life of me even recall her last name or draw up in my brain a face to put with her first name, since I met her just that once, in that exhaustive weekend.

Here's to you, Laura!!!   Creator of the original drop trap.

A link to a page describing Laura's original drop trap:  Click here.

And I found where Laura is now.  She's got a new nonprofit, in Rochester New York.  Click here.

She's still fixing ferals.  Some people never change.  Which is good.

If you use a drop trap or your cats have been benefited by one's use, consider a donation to its creator!   You can donate at that second link.  Tell her thank you, and that you heard of her invention from a long ago friend and admirer in Oregon.

8 comments:

  1. How nice that she recognised the good that you did even then, and gave you a trap.
    People like her, and you, make the world a better place.

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    Replies
    1. she was very nice to me. That was a long time ago.

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  2. Anonymous4:30 PM

    Some fifty years ago my father and my uncle made a drop trap, which was pretty well exactly the same, but without the transfer part. They caught some native birds and built a large aviary for them and once caught a wallaby, a smaller version of a kangaroo. I guess they just released it.

    Driving to San Fran is about the same as us driving from Melbourne to Sydney. Too much for us now. It is cheaper to make the 1 hour flight.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, its not much of a flight but still cost too much for me, and I would have to first have gone to Portland to the airport up there, paid parking, all that. Yeah, the drop trap is your basic apple box with a stick propping it up, with string attached to stick, which was her thought I think, just make it bigger and net or wire, so you could see the cats, and have a way to get them out from under it.

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  3. Wow! Thank you for sharing this story. Sorry you missed out on so much during that trip. ~hugs~ Did that $100 cover house sitting? That's a lot of money. ~shakes head~ You've made me even more grateful for our inexpensive pet sitters.

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    Replies
    1. Nope, just stopping in to clean litter boxes and feed them. Pet sitters are expensive here. That is the only time I ever used one. It was ridiculous to go that far when most of the time would be spent driving there and back. But oh well, I wanted badly to get away and to meet people. Like now in a way. I haven't had really any human contact for weeks outside of with strangers.

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  4. A nice story about Laura. I think of you in the same way. You have an inventive mind and could easily come up with an equally useful device for something. You do it in your house all of the time.

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