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Mercer County group tackles feral cat problem

Bluefield Daily Telegraph photo by Greg Jordan Darlene Little with Second Chance for Cats feeds a colony of feral cats in Mercer County.
Bluefield Daily Telegraph photo by Greg Jordan
Darlene Little with Second Chance for Cats feeds a colony of feral cats in Mercer County.

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — One cat was waiting in the shade when Darlene Little arrived with some food. A second one quickly appeared and kept its distance. Two black cats came out of the brush and approached a large, flat rock as Little opened cans of cat food and called out, “Kitty, kitty, kitty! Kitty, kitty, kitty!”

It was another afternoon at one of Mercer County’s cat colonies. Soon about a half-dozen cats of varying shades and ages were munching on the free food. Little asked that the location of this particular colony not be disclosed — people might dump more cats there if they heard about it. She and her fellow members at Second Chance for Cats recently had to rescue six kittens from a nearby trash bin: They had managed to catch four so far.

“One of the kittens must have gotten a back leg caught in the dumpster,” Little added.

The leg had to be amputated, but the kitten is now at an animal clinic: One of the workers there fell in love and wants to adopt it.

Cats gathered around Little while she fed them, but they otherwise stayed out of reach. A black cat allowed itself to be petted and even stretched out for more affection. Besides feeding the cats regularly, Second Chance has had them all spayed or neutered, she said. They had also been vaccinated against rabies.

Unfortunately, this care does not solve the problem. New kittens keep arriving, and people across Mercer County keep calling about homeless cats that keep multiplying.

“I’d say we get six calls a day and sometimes more from people needing help with cats or kittens,” Little said as she sat down and watched the cats eat. “People start feeding a stray cat, which is decent, but they don’t get them fixed, and before you know it the cat has kittens.”

Cat colonies often start when owners move and abandon their cats, or dump them in places where they believe people will feed the cats, Little said. In many instances, the owners do not want to take the cats to an animal shelter.

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