00:00i got a call from the landfill uh manager sophie and who said that she was aware that there was a
00:09big cat problem there and she was reaching out as well for for that but um then the two kittens
00:17that were in care passed away unfortunately they didn't survive so i said i agreed with
00:22sophie to put a plan in action to trap train adults so we took about four or five traps down
00:29filled them with smelly foods and had them so they wouldn't go off just so that we could get them used
00:36to going in and out freely so that when we had vet appointments ready the next day we could
00:41trap them that night store them in a nice setup for them and then get them into the vets so we
00:47know they're starved ready for surgery release back any that we thought could cope with being released
00:53back and there was a few females that wouldn't have coped going back so we
00:58relocated them to safer places how are the the cats and kittens you've got now how are they doing
01:07the four kittens that we took into care recently they're doing well one has a little umbilical
01:13hernia one's being a little timid so needs a bit of time to come around but the siblings are
01:19chucking themselves at me like normal kittens now so yeah they're becoming very um hand tame and friendly
01:26the relocated adult females i've had feedback that they're doing really well one was stumpy um who
01:34sadly amputated her own leg on site which was an old old wound and it healed over so the vets checked
01:41her out and gave her the tick to go somewhere um so we're hoping the kittens will just go to regular
01:48homes so we're trying to get them used to expose them to as many things we can because they were just on the
01:53cusp of the socialization can't say that word socialization period um which you know is vital
02:00for their for them to absorb good experiences their experiences with humans was avoid because that's
02:07what they've been taught by the adults there and then me randomly coming along and trapping them and
02:12traumatizing them a little bit more for the good end really so i think we've undone my trauma that i've
02:19caused them what should the public do when they do come across feral cats that they're not always
02:25suitable for homing are they well the difficulty is that some cats can appear feral when they're
02:31actually not so they've just been living that lifestyle for a while so we wouldn't know until
02:36we track them what how they are and we definitely need alternative homes for the true ferals so farm
02:45yards and stables things like that nice barn somewhere that we can relocate them to get them
02:52adjusted to that place regular top-up feeding once a day and then they'll there'll be excellent pest control
03:00do you have an urgency for these types of homes for mums and kittens now because i've got at least
03:07four more mums and queens and kittens that we need to get somewhere i mean there's a cost of living
03:13crisis are people abandoning more cats so is demand higher for you how are people supporting you
03:19so it's people losing their homes more than anything that's the biggest um cat intake that we're
03:25receiving because the multi-cat households you know they've got four plus cats and suddenly they
03:32haven't got a home so the cats haven't got a home that that's where we're struggling because we don't
03:37have facilities in our branch to take in the numbers we want to take in so fosterers is is vital
03:44that that's we really need foster homes and how does the public support you to keep you going then
03:50so we've had a lot of public helping with feeding these feral cats and kittens
03:55in one spot regularly so that's been brilliant they they've been you know invaluable to me
04:01because they're then establishing a routine that then i can go and place my trap there
04:06they're going in don't food donations we've got a bin in uh asda yoval and posh nosh in somerton
04:14have got a bin now that's you know people could just keep taking the food in because as soon as it's in
04:19there i'm using it for for trapping or feeding cats in care rebecca thank you so much for your time
04:25thank you so much for your time today and also the wonderful work done by your charity thank you
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