Feral cats overrun property in White City, local woman helps

WHITE CITY, Ore. – Feral cats are not just a local or national problem, but a worldwide issue, but one woman in White City who’s working to help these cats in Jackson County.

“It’s a problem, people are calling all the time trying to get them into shelters,” SNYP Director, Sally Mackler said. “We can’t keep up with all the calls it’s just an onslaught of calls, it’s a huge problem.”

On a ten-acre farm in the middle of White City sits a colony of about 100 feral cats.

“Since mid-February, we have now gotten 61 cats spayed and neutered from this location,” cat activist, Wendy Diamond said.

Diamond is just one of many locals working to put a stop to the cycle. She’s been working on a farm for a few months now. She’s managed to get about two-thirds of the cats at this home spay and neutered, but it’s not enough.

“In spite of all those cats that we’ve done we still currently have four litters that we know of,” Diamond said.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in Jackson County.

“All the counties, but especially Jackson County has a horrendous problem with feral cats and we can not rescue our way out of this the only answer is to spay and neuter them,” Diamond said.

Once Diamond has trapped the cats at a property, she takes them to a clinic like SNYP to be fixed she then returns them to the wild. SNYP says they spay or neuter about 25 to 30 cats a day, but the cat owners have to do their part.

“Get your cat fixed its better for their health there’s absolutely no reason to not get your cat fixed,” Mackler said. “By the time its four months old it can reproduce and it will reproduce, and they are prolific,”

One unspayed female cat can be responsible for as many as 420,000 kittens over a period of seven years according to the ASPCA.

That’s why Diamond has been doing this for decades, first in California and now in the Rogue Valley because she hopes to give these cats a better life.

“The animals don’t have a voice, they didn’t ask to be dropped out in the fields, or be born out in fields,” Diamond said.

“Please don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution. be a responsible pet owner – get your pet fixed,” Mackler said.

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