[Kate and her Ducks]

My OH has just rung me quite excitedly to tell me that he has just found out that there are 4 young (about 6 months old) feral cats living under the unused car in his drive. 3 of his neighbours have been feeding them so no doubt they will be planning on staying!

They are all black and White which means they already have a ready made soft spot in
our hearts as both our cats are black and White.

Nick has been told by his nextdoor neighbour that the council has been informed and they are going to come and lay traps so they can be caught and neutered and then released back to where they were caught.
Now much as I agree they need to be neutered, my first response was "that's a likely story!". It just sounds highly dubious that after neutering them they would be released and my suspicious and cynical thought were that if they couldn't be rehomed after neutering then they would be destroyed.

Am I being paranoid and my local council is sweet and cuddly or am I going to spend the weekend trying to catch and then tame (after a trip to A and E for suturing) 4 feral kittens?

Would love to know that they will be released but just suspect it was flannel told to the lady next door to stop her having a hissy fit. 

[arugula]

I suppose this service would come under the umbrella of your council's dog warden service, if they have one. Ours do and this sort of thing would probably be a great relief from the normal chasing people for not picking up after their dogs. As to who would fund the actual neutering operations, if the council don't have funds to cater for such eventualities they might try to enlist the RSPCA or similar organisation for that.

[8doubles]

I`m pleased to hear the council is taking action. If the cats cannot be properly re-homed then they should not be be released anywhere.

4 semi wild cats living for say 8 years would kill a lot of wildlife and that includes rare and protected species.

I for one would rather see 50 songbirds than one feral moggie.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Don't get me wrong, I don't really want them just re-released but I definately wouldn't want them destroyed if they couldn't be rehomed. Although I think that we could handle another cat, another 4 would be a bit of a handful. Never mind that they are ferel!

[Ice]

Let's not turn this into yet another anti cat rant or it will be locked.  Please keep it on topic.

[newatthis]

hi, i think it's the cat protection society that do the catching and neutering operations, and it may be best to give them a call, we caught a wild kitten at my partners work place(recycling site) yep it was dumped there, and i payed to have it neutered and then found him a good home and he was free to good home

[Aunt Sally]

An uncle of Wrozel's has trapped many feral cats around where he lived for the council.  There were indeed returned and released again after neutering.

[Ice]

I'm going to lock this thread unless Kate wants it reopened.

[Kate and her Ducks]

No, I think locking it is for the best.