November 2017   A year-end review and information regarding the NorthStateGiving day, November 28.

November 28, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, is a special international online day for giving to non-profit organizations.  The Shasta Regional Community Foundation has created local support for Shasta and Siskiyou County focused on this one day event.  Last year NorthState giving resulted in $750,000 in 14 hours to nearly 100 organizations.  This year  there are 120 organizations, and we are included and asking for financial support.  Visit our Profile located in the Animal category on their Website, www.northstategives.org, and visit our facebook.com/stillwatercathaven for more information.

Our year-end review:
This year seems to have resulted in more activity than ever.  Our springtime example was the rescue of 2 feral moms, each with 5 new kittens in just two days.  Instead of 2-existing feral cats we were dealing with the potential of 12-total members in the community/non-owned colonies.  The numbers developed in those two days, with more birthing happening all over our community, indicate dramatically that our desire to stabilize the community cat population cannot occur with our abilities alone.  We need public education and greater community efforts to improve the impact we have hoped to accomplish.

This year to date we have spayed/neutered 155 cats.  Since our non-profit was formed in 2011 we have spayed/neutered 947 cats.  Since we began in 2000 we estimate 1500 cats have been treated and stabilized from the potential population explosion. This year we received a grant from Best Friends, a national organization headquartered in Utah, which covers $35 dollars of the local $45 expense for feral treatments including spay/neuter, feline testing, and a rabies vaccination.  We have helped numerous individuals and several businesses with this grant support, and have provided traps and training for success in their efforts.

Most of the cats we have spayed/neutered are returned to their community colonies.  When the trap location has disadvantages we have relocated some; two trips to Fortuna occurred this year where they were placed in large dairy barns with hay storage and they help farmers with rodent control.  Kittens from the colonies have been cared for until they have grown to a size they can be spayed/neutered; they normally have become tamed/comfortable with human contact and are adoptable.  We have had too many adoptable kittens available for the population of our area and have taken two trips to a rescue facility near Portland Oregon which has had capacity for our added numbers.

This year we also combined our resources with the City and Anderson and Haven Humane Society, the only organization that receives public funds for animal control operations.  We have been involved in the Anderson River Park with trapping and daily monitoring including supplemental feeding for many years.  Haven agreed to add their resources to the Park and the results added 35 cats to our trapping and spaying/neutering in a months time.  Unfortunately, once our grant from Best Friends occurred Haven declined to continue their cooperative effort, suggesting we had new financial support and our successful effort in the park was less of a priority to their other Haven activities.