I asked and obtained permission to access the building with other ORA volunteers to trap the cats. The day after, three of us went to the building armed with traps and lots of tuna. As soon as we saw the interior of the building we were disheartened. The building was quite large with a lot of rooms; it was difficult to decide where the traps would be the most effective. Also, there were so many spaces and holes where cats could hide: a real heaven for feral cats!
But what cat can resist the smell of tuna? After only three hours we successfully trapped a young kitten. However the lady who was carrying the trap toward the exit, suddenly felt the trap getting lighter and before she could realize what had happened she saw a kitten running away at the speed of light. The kitten had succeeded in escaping from an opening not bigger than one and a half inches from the back of the trap. The gap was tied up and the trap reset. Nothing happened for a full day. The following afternoon we received a call from the site informing us that two cats were in the traps. We rushed to pick them up and to take them to the vet to be checked, vaccinated and spayed/neutered. One of the cats was the mother cat. We named her Layla, a beautiful tortoise shell cat, probably less than one year old. The second cat was one of Layla’s kittens, a gorgeous orange tabby, approximately three to four months old that we named Percy.
We knew that there was at least another cat in the building, the one that first escaped, but we could not get her back. The workers learned to activate the traps every morning and then they would tie them back at nights before leaving so that the cats would become accustomed to eating inside the trap.
Three full days went by and we took a few daytime and evening trips to the building, but there were no more sightings of the kitten. She would eat the tuna during the night when the traps were tied back, but not during the day when they were activated. Finally, four days after the mother and the sibling were taken, we got her: Mimi, a tabby/calico and exceptionally smart kitten. We left the traps for another four days just to be sure that no other cats were in the building. After four days in which the food was left uneaten we concluded that we had all the cats. The workers finished the boarding of the building and we started the socialization process of the three cats.
With Mimi it did not take long. She is watching the other cats in the household and learning how to use the scratching posts, how to politely ask to sample human food and how to entertain herself with all the cat toys. She is really showing her joy at being part of the domesticated cat population. Percy is less responsive, he is very reserved, but follows his sister and takes directions from her. They are both absolutely adorable and they are now ready to be adopted. For their mother Layla, it will take a bit longer. She was obviously on her own for awhile and she had learned to fear people; for her the change is very radical.
We want to express here our deepest gratitude to the members of Land Construction Company Ltd for their assistance and their help in saving these cats. We hope that their example of compassion towards the animals will be imitated by more builders and construction workers who in their daily activities encounter and displace all kind of animals.
Claudia Vecchio and Corinne Thaw
ORA-Organization for the Rescue of Animals
http://ora-animalsrescue.org
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