Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the people and rescues making a difference in the lives of animals. Thank you Rebecca for joining me today.

You're welcome. I'm so excited to be here with you.

You do TNR

I do.

And what group do you do that for?

I do it with the Jefferson SPCA.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you became involved in TNR?

Yes. So I've always been an animal lover since day one, since I was little. My mom had probably 15, 20 cats in and around our house growing up. Huge animal family. I started working with Jefferson Parish Parks and Recreation in 2014, and so after 10 years at the same job, it's like, what can I do to make coming to work something that I love to do? So how can I incorporate animals into my job? So I've always wanted to volunteer, but volunteering with different organizations is so stressful because there's so many requirements and. Applications you have to fill out and you have to schedule appointments. So I never really did that 'cause that freaked me out. But I was like, okay, with my platform I can do this, and then I'll open it up to volunteers and people will come to me to volunteer and I'll do all the scheduling. So now I'm not alone going to volunteer, and that makes it easier for me. I found Rachel because my mother she has community cats and she had reached out to Rachel and Rachel did some TNR for her. So my mom was like, you should reach out to Rachel with the Jefferson SPCA and maybe y'all can volunteer there with your new group. So the group is called JP Helping Paws, and this is probably our second or third ish year. So I met Rachel doing all that. And if Rachel, she's very. Loud and outgoing and to the point, and I love that. So just volunteering there. I started hearing about trapping cats and something about it always freaked me out a little bit. Just the unknown of it, my fiance works at Game On Social Hub and the owners, there are big cat people, which we love, but she had some cats in the back that she wanted help trapping. So Rachel was like, I'm gonna go, I'll bring the van, come with me and learn. I was like, okay. So we got the big van, loaded it up with traps. Rachel's showing me how to do it, setting 'em, and then you just hear 'em, clicking and setting off and she's like, oh, go see what we got. And I'm like okay. And then it's like, oh look, it's a little one. And so it was just like the thrill of like, what did we get? That kind of like pulled me in. Once I saw how easy it was, I was like, okay like this takes no effort. You literally set a metal box and they walk into it and then you're done. So I was like, I can do this. I can totally do this. So I still hadn't had like a neighborhood to trap in or anything like that. But where I work, I drive through airline park neighborhood to get to my job sometimes, and I saw a little black kitten crossing the street. So immediately, my first instinct is let me try and grab him. And I saw him run into their backyard. So I tell Rachel and she's like, come get a door hanger. The door hanger says, we notice there's community cats in the neighborhood. We wanna trap them, do t and r. Here's my name and number. Contact me. So I put them out on some doors and then the next day I got a text message. Hey we saw your door hanger and we would love for you to come trap our cat. And I was like, this is it. Like this is it. I've been trapping there for over a year now. At the same houses, the people who live there are like my best friends now. They're probably fifties and up, but they're the sweetest people ever, but they are your typical feeders, not fixers. So it's easy for me because it's right around the corner from my job, so I can drop traps in the morning. They'll keep an eye on 'em. I can pick 'em up after work and go drop 'em off at the J. It was just so exciting, once you start setting those traps and grabbing things and then you really feel it like, I am making a difference. Like I literally took maybe an hour out of my day and I truly made a difference. I can see that I made a difference. Like these cats will never get pregnant again. They will never impregnate anyone. I just put a dent even in, this house, this block community, I myself have put a dent in it. So I, once I saw that, I was like, this is so cool. I love this. It's so easy and like. Being an animal lover does not save lives. Unfortunately. Just being an animal lover does nothing. How many people do we all know? Like I'm an animal lover. It's like, but what do you do? Like, what are you doing for that? So it's like I just love the fact that like, no, like I actually am making a difference. I am.

Absolutely. Yeah. And you're right about all the animal lovers, like especially on social media.

Oh my God. Yeah.

That is like my biggest pet peeve ever. When they're like, oh, I need somebody to come help this kitten. I love animals, but somebody else come do the work.

That's one of my pet peeves too, because once you and your community know that you're a doer, anytime there's a social media post, you get tagged by everyone and it's like, wait. You're just as capable as I am. Like, are you scared? You have a vehicle, you have free time. Why are you tagging me to come save the day? Like. I think it's amazing that y'all are, and I love that y'all think of me like that, but like you are capable too. I love being the person that people go to solve the problems and I love being able to help. But we all need to be helping. Like the problem is big enough. We all need to be helping Stop tagging me, tag me to say, Hey Rebecca, I did this myself. Aren't you proud of me? Yes. Absolutely.

Now you said your group, JP Helping Paws is different. So can you explain how it is different from the other groups?

So we're a volunteer group. I set everything up and I basically just let people know. We meet up once a month at a different organization, wherever, and I'll let them know like, Hey, this month we're going to help A Tail in Need, do their adoption day at PetSmart. I need you to be here at this time, this place. This is how long it's gonna be lasting. This is what you're gonna be doing. You let me know if you're coming. And then I'll reach out to that rescue and I tell them, I've got five volunteers coming. Whatever the case may be. But there is no legwork for the people in the group. They literally read the email and tell me I'll be there or I won't, and then that's it. It's so low commitment. It's no work on their part, and that's what I love, like. It's trouble for me 'cause I'm the one planning all of it the whole year. But I signed up for it and it's my job. I do that now. But it's just so easy for them. There's just no commitment, with everything going on. Everyone is so busy. And to just see an email and be like, yeah, that's cool. I'll be there. Or I'll catch you next month. Like, that's it. They just show up. When we get to the different organizations and everything, I am the one advocating for our group saying, Hey, we're JP Helping Paws. What can, what do y'all need today? Are we walking dogs? Are we cleaning cat cages? Do you need your bathrooms cleaned? Are their laundry, do you need anything folded? What you need? And I'll, I introduce all the volunteers together. Like I make sure that everyone feels like safe and included and no one feels shy or uncomfortable with anything. 'cause like I know how that is and I don't like that. I don't like awkwardness, so I try to make sure that everyone feels included. If someone doesn't want a big dog, like I'll take it. What do you want? What would you feel comfortable doing? If they need the bathrooms cleaned and no one's interested, I'll clean your bathrooms, we, and then I'm like, okay, we got, 10 minutes left. Do y'all need anything else? We're gonna wrap up. Like, it's really just easy. It makes it so easy for these people to volunteer with us. And I encourage everyone while we're there, take all the photos and videos. You can send them to me and then I'll post them and tag the organization so that they can reshare it or just so that more people can get eyes on their adoptables. 'cause that's the name of the game, I feel like it's so important for us to. Relieve the volunteers or the workers of these organizations who literally dedicate their lives to this. If they can sit down for an hour while we're cleaning their bathrooms and sweeping their floors and walking their dogs, that's all that matters. It's just so important to just help with that kind of stuff. We've been told we got a bunch of trash in the back. If y'all could help bring it to the dumpster. It's been back there a while, and I'm like, yeah, like we can throw trash away. Absolutely. Like, what do you need? Come on, tell me, what do you need? I love that. I don't know. To my knowledge, I don't know of any other volunteer groups like that. And to me it's very special. I love our little group. And I hope that it grows and flourishes.

And how many people are in your group?

So it varies. The first year we did it, we probably had about 50 people in it. 'cause it was new and people didn't know what to expect of it. Right now I probably have around 20 out of those 20 I. Definitely have about five diehards that are there next to me every single time. Some of our volunteers have children and because of their children's obligations, they might not be able to come out as often as they'd like. And then some of them ask for their kids being able to volunteer, which is another threshold challenge in volunteer work. Because you need to be 18 and older for everywhere. There's liability with animals and all of that. So there's not a lot of opportunity for children, but there absolutely are at least two rescues that I know of that do allow children to come help and interact with the animals, which is important for them to learn at an early age. They grow up to be, beautiful, intelligent cat women like the rest of us. It's important.

It's very important. I agree with that. Definitely. I did wanna have you on the show today because you teach TNR classes. So how long have you been teaching TNR classes and what inspired you to start that?

So we started in January. It is Jefferson Parish is 200th year. So Jefferson Parish has had a huge push for bicentennial advertisement, branding and all that jazz. Of course, helping animals is always first on my mind. How can I wrap my job into helping animals somehow some way. So being someone who does TNRI know the challenges of it, and I know the need for it. So if it's like, let me make this a initiative and try to teach 200 people to TNR, even if. Five people end up actually doing it. That's a success. If one person ends up actually doing it, that's a success. Just people sitting and listening to the class and hearing about it. Is a success in my book because now they know a little bit more than when they walked in. Not everyone's a cat person and that's fine, but just knowing the facts about community cats is huge. Like you don't have to like cats to do TNR. You don't. You have to. Be compassionate and wanna make a difference. So I teach that in the class. We started, January was our first class. We do one every single month for this year. And I think I'm gonna continue it after 2025. Maybe I'll do two a year or maybe just a handful of them a year. Right now we started, I wanted to do a balance between the East Bank and West Bank of Jefferson Parish. 'cause there's a need on both sides of the river. It doesn't matter where you are, there's a need. So we do back to back. Each month we do one in the East Bank for two months and then the West Bank for two months. So I've been bouncing back and forth. We haven't reached my goal of 200 yet, but I'm not discouraged. I'm still gonna keep trying until December of 2025. But a lot of the people who have been attending, they all obviously have seen community cats, which is why they signed up. They wanna make a difference, they wanna help. And they have a lot of good questions in class. Like they're not just sitting there like they are interested. I don't know if some of them are going to do TNR, but I feel confident that if they wanted to, they would know how. I had one woman who I think she lived on the West Bank, but she attended an East Bank class and her husband is in the military, so she's gonna be moving outta state, and she was like, I'm really excited to find a rescue where we move to and do TNR with them. I was likes Amazing.

That is awesome.

I know. I was like, I love that for you. She was like, I hope they have a program like y'all do. I was like, Ugh, me too. But I told her, no matter where you go, you're gonna find cats. So it's a good skill to have.

Definitely. What topics do you cover in the TNR class?

I feel like I really cover the beginning to end what to do when you see a community cat. How to rent the trap. Once you have the trap, how do you prep the trap? What do you do with it? What do you do with the cat before and after surgery? How do you make the appointments? Where do you make the appointments? All of the things After the cat is released, what do you do with the trap? There is so many steps to TNR. As easy as it is, the prep and the after is so much work. It's rewarding and it's easy work. Like loading and unloading the dishwasher, like my God, who wants to do that? But it has to be done and it's not hard. It's just annoying. So all of that's in there. I go over all of the things. If there's, babies, what to do if you get two cats in one trap, if it's pregnant you know how to look for an ear tip, all of that. I've only been trapping for a little over a year, so I've learned a lot in a short amount of time, and I know I have so much more to learn. But every trap trapper traps differently. That's not a good thing or a bad thing. We all have our own little nuances, our own little things that we do. A couple classes I'll have another TNR Trapper come to the class to share their experience. If I don't have anyone coming, no big deal. I can do it myself. I can answer almost all the questions myself, but if someone wants to come and help me with the class, they're more than welcome to. It's just, everyone's got their, some trappers mix up all their food beforehand and bring it prepared in a Tupperware. I'm cracking cans in the street with a spoon in a bag for my trash. It's just, everyone's got their own little things, and I don't think anyone's are better and worse. It's all, we are all learning from each other,

The target audience, would that be anybody?

Literally anybody, I say 18 and up just because. I'm not gonna say I've put myself in dangerous situations. I'm gonna say interesting situations, so I wouldn't open it to children. Now, if a parent wants to come with their child and teach them, come on, it's free. I would love for them to learn. I just want them to be at least 18 to start trapping on their own. I was in a very interesting situation yesterday. I ended up leaving cat less but I had the cats and traps. But that might be a story for another day.

Maybe we'll get to that one afterwards.

Yeah. Yeah.

We'll go through the class first. Yes. And then you can tell us the story.

Yes.

Does the class include hands-on training?

So I tell everyone if they're interested in doing what I call a ride along, they're welcome to send me an email and if I'm not trapping on that day, we'll find you a trapper that you can meet up with and you can see it hands on. I do bring my trap bag with me and all of the things that come with it, I bring traps. Regular traps. I brought a fat cap trap and I brought a kitten trap just to show them this is what it is. I show them how it works, how it's triggered, how you set it, how you clean it, how you cover it, line it, all of that. So I bring all of the things and I show them I have a trap fork. I show 'em how all of that's done. But if they wanna go like in the field and learn on the job experience, they just need to send us an email. Say, Hey, I'm interested in coming out. I've had one person come out with me and he learned. It's so much to absorb your first time. It's almost overwhelming, but I promise you it's really not that, it's not that hard. Once you come out a couple times, you're like, oh, okay, this, the main thing is setting the trap and get in the cat, and that's it,

I find a lot of people are actually scared of the traps.

Really

and they don't know how to operate the trap.

Yeah.

And once you show them how easy it is to just set the trap

so easy.

It's super easy. And pretty much there's a couple of different traps out there,

yeah there are,

people use the like the brown traps. I like the brown traps. But then there's the typical, humane trap that they have, right? With the kind of slide up doors? Yeah, with the hinge.

Yeah. No, not a fan. Not a fan.

Yeah. I'm not either, but all of them, they all operate on the same premise. So if you learn on one

Yeah, you can figure it out.

You can figure it out on all of em.

Absolutely. That's how the kitten traps are with the strange littlemouth pinching front door the first time I saw that I was like, what is this? It's like, it's gotta open some way. There's only a couple ways it can do it, you figure it out. But they're so easy

Uhhuh.

I know. I think Rachel keeps a nail file with her so that like, if her trapped doors close into sensitively or something, she'll just grind that little piece. Rough, rough it up a little bit. So there's tips and trick you learn along the way from everyone you know. It's like a little hobby.

What about misconceptions with TNR? How do you address those?

So I really try when I am going out to a house for the first time let's say there are several cats there. So I'm going to meet the feeder essentially. I try my hardest to make them feel so comfortable. They cannot tell me no. Because I know that it's scary to have someone you don't know come onto your property and say, I wanna take your babies and fix them. I dealt with this yesterday, just the word trapper in itself sounds aggressive. It doesn't sound helpful, it doesn't sound good. So I do think there's a huge stigma with it. I think people think of the shelter from years ago, and it's like, absolutely not. I want nothing to do with y'all. And it's like, no, we're here to help. Like we are all crazy cat women. We are here to help. So there's a huge stigma and how do we break that? Is it not referring to ourselves as trappers? Is there another way that we could address it to where it isn't as scary and aggressive? That's something I'm navigating through because my situation yesterday, all of that came up and I was like, you're right. Like. I do understand that there is a huge stigma, but we are just here to help. Truly, it has nothing to do with you where you live, what you don't care about you. I just wanna help the cats.

What advice would you give somebody who is fearful of feral cats during trapping?

it's interesting because I know a couple people who really aren't cat people who do trap and. If you're around cats long enough, they're gonna turn you, but once they're covered, you're fine. They calm down. That's it. You're never handling the cat. You never have to pick the cat up. The cats pretty much run from you. When you go to trap, you set your trap, you walk away, you come back, they're in it, you cover it, and that's it. They don't get out of the traps. They're good in there. Once you cover 'em, they're quiet. There. I don't think there's anything to be scared of, honestly. Now I've learned my lesson from kitten snatching, as I call it. I don't suggest anyone snatch kittens by their hand from the garden, but listen, we all have to learn on our own sometimes, and that's what's happened. And I, lessons we're learned but if you don't have a tendency to grab cats, barehanded, you're fine.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What are the biggest challenges people face when starting TNR and how do you help them overcome those challenges?

I think a huge challenge is talking to the feeders, honestly. Like that can be a scary part, even still. 'cause you don't know who's front door you're knocking on. You don't know if it's, an 80-year-old grandma who really wants the help and loves these kitties. It's someone who's just ignorant to the whole idea of fixing animals and who's gonna be aggressive with you. So that right there can be scary. And I go over that in the class. I say, if you feel uncomfortable in a neighborhood, have someone go with you or don't go. I don't want anyone to be putting themselves in an unsafe situation to help cats get a group of us to go with you. And I always tell people, if you ever feel unsafe, call the police. Just call the police. I don't know why people are so afraid to call the police. I'm like, girl, I'll call the police at least once a month on somebody. Call the police. That's what they're there for. You know the people who threaten you, I'll call the police if you take my cats, first of all, they're not your cats. They might be on your property, but they're community cats. They're not collared, they're not chipped, they're not tipped. So they're fair game. You can call the police first if you're trapping on the sidewalk. They can't come after you. But again, if you feel uncomfortable, I wouldn't want to put anyone in that situation. I would just say leave, communicate with whatever rescue you're communicating with and let 'em know, like, I truly don't feel safe trapping at that house. Maybe there's another trapper who does, or maybe we can go out as a group. A lot of the rescues are friends with a lot of Kenner police and j Jefferson Parish police officers, and we can give 'em a heads up, Hey, we're trapping here. If y'all could do some drive-bys, check on us. I'm sure they would be more than happy to do that. It's just, to me that is like the scariest part of it is the unknown of the people, not the cats. Not the cats.

Have you ever had the police called on you?

Not yet. I haven't, and I haven't had to call the police while I was trapping either. But again, I wouldn't hesitate to if I felt like I needed to. I think trapping cats falls under the see something, say something kind of thing. Cats that need help, say something or help them yourself, be equipped and help them yourself. If I see something that's not right while I'm trapping, I'm gonna say something. I just don't want that to sit with me. I need to pass that on to whomever can handle it.

How do you address concerns about catching wildlife in the traps.

So I haven't caught wildlife yet.

Really?

I know. I know. I envy those who have My day will come though. I think because where I trap it's so heavily catted. There is no room for any wildlife. But again, you can easily open a trap without the creature inside getting you, unless it's like a raccoon, they do have tiny hands that can fit through the holes. So in my trap bag, I carry thick, like. Bird gloves that go into like my elbows,

uhhuh,

so I could absolutely successfully open my trap and release whatever it is if needed. Never been in that situation. But again, you just open the trap and you can, lean the door forward so that you can back up enough. I haven't heard of a trapper being reard by a raccoon or possum upon release, but maybe that's me.

I'm jealous though, 'cause it seems like every time I'm trying to catch a cat, I get a possum.

Oh man.

And so I have to go let the possum go and then sometimes the same possum will go back in the trap again.

Bless his heart yeah.

So yeah. That's pretty good. You've never caught wildlife.

I don't know. I feel like maybe that's what makes you like an official trapper. Like you have to be christened with a possum.

I know one time I got a raccoon and he wasn't in the trap for long. But that sucker started like dismantling the trap.

That's what I've heard. That's what Rachel says.

He's just started working at it.

Yeah. She said they'll burn through 'em. Uhhuh, he was big.

Yeah, he was a big boy, so how do you measure the success of your TNR classes?

If one person comes, it's successful because even one person just learning about it, I don't need everyone to go back and trap. And so my goal is to teach 200 people. I don't need 200 people trapping, but if 200 people just come and sit in this class and listen to me, it's about an hour and a half, give or take, depending on questions. Just to leave with the knowledge that I can share with them about it. And now they know like if you have community cats that are tnr in your neighborhood, they're going to protect your neighborhood from other cats coming in. They're gonna be territorial and they're going to prevent other groups from coming into your neighborhood. I'm such a cat person, I just don't see the negative in it, but. It's just so much knowledge, I know people who that cat has three legs, it should be put down. I'm like, he has three legs. He's perfectly fine. Like legs are a luxury. He's fine. So just sharing all of the things about it. I think as eyeopening to some people, I love to learn. I love to find out new things. And so to me, it's a lot of information and knowledge that I think everyone should just know, again, whether you have intentions of doing it or not, no big deal. But so that if someone comes up to you and says like, that cat has no home, it should be put to sleep. You now have the knowledge to say no. Look, he's got an ear tip. He's a community cat like he is being cared for. He's fine.

Yeah. Education is a big part of it and I think it is reaching more people. Because people don't realize how fast they can reproduce.

I know

when you tell 'em four months old that their baby's having babies. Yes. It just like blows their mind.

I know. Teen moms. Yeah, absolutely.

Do you have any plans of trying to maybe to reach, say, high schools about the effect of pet overpopulation?

So my journey. As a human is to help animals in any way, shape or form. And to me, this is just the beginning of my path. I don't, like I said, I think my TNR classes will continue past 2025 in some way, shape or form. I would love to continue teaching people and informing people, and I think my platform with Jefferson Parish is amazing for me to continue to do that. I have a lot of ideas in the future. So this isn't like a one and done type of thing. Like I have to incorporate animals into my job. That's my purpose

Do you have any other success stories from students?

So one girl, she's actually in JP Helping Paw. So she came to the class to learn how to trap. She's one of our like day ones, she's a really loyal volunteer. She came to the class, she learned a bunch of stuff. She trapped a cat that had been showing up at her house that she had been feeding for a little while. So trapped that cat that cat got fixed, was pregnant. It was a, I think it was a stoic pregnancy. The babies were like hardened solidified like,

oh wow,

weren't alive. Like, it would've killed her if she hadn't have been fixed. 100% would've killed her. So once she found out about this, she was like, I cannot put this cat back out on the street. So that cat lives in her house now.

Oh really? That's amazing.

I know. She is the one who fed it every day and the cat's best friends with her husband. So that's typically how gets,

oh, that's Cat. So that's typical cats.

So like that one story, I'm good. Like That's amazing. I love that.

Yeah, that definitely makes it worthwhile right there.

Absolutely. Where I do my TNR over a year now, I try to teach the feeder, look, this is how the trap works. This is how you do it. It's real easy. So I'm teaching them too, like. To where if I leave the trap with them, they can help. So I had caught one of their cats that had been tipped, and he goes, I open the trap and I let it out, and I reset it. And I was like, oh yeah, we're learning. Oh yeah, step one, right?

With feeders, do you ever encounter feeders that when you tell them, "Hey, I am coming to trap, the cats don't feed the cats", and they're putting the food out anyway. Do you run across that and how do you handle that?

So I think it's happened a few times where I trap regularly. And I just try to reiterate to them, cats can go, I think it's 72 hours without food. They need water every day, but they can go a very long time without food and be okay. They're not going to starve. And that's another huge struggle is these are their children. These feeders are very attached to their cats. So when all their cats are looking inside, like, mom, it's been days we're starving out here, they can't handle it. A little bit of food won't hurt. And I'm like, I need them to be starving so that they'll get into the traps, as soon as I'm done, you can feed everybody. So it is a little bit of a struggle. I'm always like. Look, if I'm coming on Tuesday, Sunday night, maybe don't put much of anything out Monday. Nothing. I've been trapping here so long though. These cats, they know me, they know the routine, they know when she leaves, we get fed and that's a whole other issue. So here and there again, I've been trapping at the same place for so long. When I go to new places or like emergency situations, they get right in the trap. hit or miss,

so I would love to hear more about the story from yesterday.

Okay. So once I learned how to TNR, my favorite thing is people who are on Facebook, like, this cat is hanging from a fence that needs help. I'm like, I'm getting my trap and I'm going to get that cat. I've gotten a lot of cats that end up at the J from like emergency Facebook situations but I love that. I love being able to help. So someone posts on Facebook a picture of a cat on the sidewalk with two kittens, just like nursing.

Yep

you saw it?

I saw that one, yes.

All right, so it's got, hundreds of comments at this point and I went to Jefferson Feed yesterday and we helped take kitten pictures because, they have 200 kittens. And I was like, I'm gonna go try and trap that cat after. So I go after. I pull up at the house and the people are on the porch and I was like, Hey, I saw on Facebook y'all have some cats, and I see the kittens climbing up the side of the fence. And I'm like, oh. And she was like, we don't need help with our cats. I was like, no. Are they fixed? Like, I'm just coming to help. She said, no, we don't need help. I said, okay. So I get back in my car and I call Rachel, and then someone walks up to my window and they were like, Hey can you come out and talk to us? I was like, okay. And I'm like, Rachel, just stay on the phone. I don't know what's happening. And the lady comes out and she was like, we do have cats and we do want them fixed. And I was like, oh, great. I'm gonna go grab my trap. So I grabbed two traps and the little kid, she was probably like eight years old, just picks up the kittens and starts walking, puts 'em right in my trap. Grabs a mama cat puts her in the trap and I'm like, this is the easiest thing I've ever done. And I said, how many kittens are there? There's six. And I was like, alright, we'll go get the other one. So these kittens were probably like, I don't know, six weeks old and they're running around in a very busy, dangerous area. So the kid like grabs the cat by the tail and I'm like, oh, let's be gentle. So I've got, four kittens or something? I'm missing two. They're inside. We're gonna go get 'em. And I was like, okay. So they go get the kittens and then come out, and then the woman says, mama said you can't take any of the cats. I was like I just wanna fix 'em. Like, can I at least take the mom and then I'll come back for the kittens? Mama said, you have to release all of them. And I said what if I go run to my car? What's mama gonna do? And they were like, she gonna come after you? And I was like, okay, I'm not doing that then. I said, I just wanna fix 'em. I don't want your cats. I promise you I do not want them. I'm just gonna fix 'em and bring 'em back. No, finally mom comes out and talks to me. She was very nice. But they're not from that neighborhood. They recently moved there and apparently they brought Mama Cat with them, that she was a stray. From the neighborhood that they previously lived in and she had these babies at their new address. They're indoor, outdoor. None of them are fixed. None of them are vaccinated. I don't see any food and water bowls outside. We bring some of them inside at night and I'm just pleading with this woman like, what is it gonna take? I don't want your cats. This is the process I will. Bring them to go get fixed. They get fixed. I bring them to my house for the night. I will come back the next morning and release them. I send you pictures and text updates the entire time so that you know your kitties are safe. Like this is how it works. And she's like, no I feel attacked right now. I don't know who put that on Facebook. I don't know these people. Why would someone see cats and assume that they're not being taken care of? They look healthy. And I said I'm positive. It was just someone doing good who sees cats with. Babies on the sidewalk of a busy street and they just want help for the cats 'cause they're not ear tipped. So that's a giveaway. Maybe we're lost, maybe we're not taken care of. She wouldn't have it. So she made me release them. I gave her my card with my phone number and I said, please, if you change your mind today, tomorrow, whenever, please text me I'll just go get 'em fixed myself. I said, we will do it for free. For free. We will fix them. I plan on putting a letter in her mailbox, just like reintroducing myself, letting her know the process of it. The mama cat, when I released her, she just slowly walked out. She let me pet her. They were the sweetest. So the positive was these people are handling these cats. So if I do go back, I, it's not a trapping situation. It's a picking up situation and I I informed them just to let you know if your neighbors do call, I can trap on their property and I can trap on the sidewalk. Even if you say no, she said that's fine, we'll keep them in. It's like, we'll keep 'em in. That's fine. But they were covered in fleas and. The mama, you can see in the pictures her hair was thinning. From the fleas. She's a light cat. She'll probably end up getting skin cancer from being out in the sun. It's like, just let me fix your cats, man.

Yeah. Because we don't need any more babies.

We really don't. No. And I told her that, I said, you've got six now. They can all reproduce at four months old. Let's handle it.

Do the math.

I told her that, let's handle it now. Before I said the vet bills, the spay and neuter bills, the food. She was like, I know. And it's like, oh my God. But I haven't given up hope on them yet. But then, you go on Facebook to update, Hey guys, this is what happened. And I'm, just giving them the highlights of it,

right

I'm still working with them and all these people are coming at me and I'm like no.

Yeah,

we're not doing that. I understand you're frustrated, as am I. But guess what? I went out. If you wanna go try, go ahead.

Yeah. See that's what I hate when the people always criticize the person actually helping. Anybody can go help too. And that just drives me nuts.

It gives me strong secondhand embarrassment for them. Like. You're welcome to go grab them. You saw 'em. When I see an animal, my first thing is if it's a cat ear tip, and will you come to me? 'cause I'll pick you up right now and call Rachel and get an appointment to have you fixed. I'm not going on Facebook saying, oh my god guys, I need help. Like, I'm a problem solver. Let's fix it. I guess I'm lucky enough to know who my people are to solve things before having to go to Facebook for it. But. The person who came at me, it was like you can go back and pick 'em up yourself. I said, they told me that mama was gonna come out and chase me. And like that wasn't on yesterday's agenda, that's on you. I did my best. It's a work in progress. Like either it will happen or it won't, but I'm sure I'll find six more cats that need to be TNR someplace else. Like we're all doing our best.

Yeah, and it's educating people. I know a couple of weeks ago. I found a very friendly, intact male cat. And so I found the girl immediately through the lost and found found pet groups. And it's the funniest thing too, because she lives almost right around the corner from me, but I found the cat like six blocks away.

Of course you do. Okay. He was intact,

so Yeah. he was intact. So I got the cat back to her and I I said I've never seen him in the area. Do you keep him inside? And she's like, yeah he ran out. And I said, he's gonna keep running out you don't have him neutered? And so she told me, she goes, yeah, she had planned on getting him neutered. And I really don't blame her for this. She said she had just moved to the neighborhood, she wasn't aware of the low cost programs that we have. But when she had tried to get him neutered wherever she came from. First they told her he needed to be six months old.

Oh my God.

Okay. So then after that it was $500 to neuter him.

Wow.

So I told her, look, I can get 'em neutered tomorrow.

Yeah.

She gave me the cat, I was able to go pick him up.

That's amazing.

And I told her, look, if you see any stray cats in the the area. I'm like, let me know. And I will just come put up a trap on your property.

Yeah.

And so she's like, oh yeah that's fine.

So that's awesome.

Yeah. So it's a little bit of a win because A lot of people aren't open to that. When you tell 'em that, they just look at you like you're nuts you know.

I know. Absolutely. The amount of doors I've knocked on, like, hi, do y'all know who feeds these cats? You're like, no. Never seen them. Like, okay. Thank you. That's awesome though.

Yeah. It was a win. Yeah, a win for sure.

My 2020 year plan is that when I retire, I would love to run for council and change all of those laws and make sure everyone really knows about TNR because like, hello, we can't all complain as a parish and do nothing about it. And that's what we're doing. We're complaining and we're doing nothing. If you have problems, come to me with a solution. Y'all aren't doing that. Y'all are complaining and doing nothing. I could talk about that all day.

So before we end the episode, is there anything else you would like to add?

I think we covered everything. I just, I wish. Like you said, people would know more about TNR, that it's available to every single Jefferson Parish resident and that people are capable. It doesn't matter how old you are, you're capable to trap. I know a lot of the TNR people are older and they're gonna be retiring from trapping soon, we can start, there should be a younger generation of people out there trapping. I tell people, it's like Pokemon Go in real life like but they're all meowths. It's still exciting. We just need to like let people know and like challenge each other. So my goal my first year was to trap 20 cats and I think I trapped like 30, but that for me was huge. If you can compete with your friends, like I bet Jack can trap more cats than you like. It's so fun. It really is. Yeah. And then you get to see 'em all and it's just so much fun. Like there's no reason why everyone isn't trapping at least one cat a year, which is nothing. There's just no reason.

Yeah. And it's weird too when you said something about all the older people that are doing the trapping. And why isn't the younger generation involved? Because, I remember from, my younger self. When I was a teenager, I was doing this stuff, we didn't have the programs like we have now, if. I saw an animal that needed help, I would automatically go and help it. I got into trapping as soon as we started having the low cost programs available. And so it's weird. I don't know.

It is weird, my mom, when she was pregnant with me 30 something years ago. She was always, an animal activist. She was picketing, stealing animals, knocking on doors. She did all of those things. So I know that's where I got it from, but I didn't start until I was in my thirties. I don't know. We definitely need to get 'em at a younger age and let them know just how to handle animals. That is a huge pet peeve of mine. We run day camps and my staff. Let's have a petting zoo come. And I'm like, absolutely not. I cannot let that poor lizard be poked by 500 fingers in a day, not on my watch. So like just training children and teaching them like this is how we handle animals. And giving them that knowledge that they grow into being that animal person. And maybe they do start trapping right when they're 18 or ride along with their mom. Like I know for sure. One day I'll have probably like. An infant in my backseat and like a tortie in a trap. Like it's probably gonna happen one day and like it should, but Right. We need to do a better job as a parish of just getting the information out to people, getting it out and maybe somehow some way incentivizing, trapping, maybe if you trap a hundred cats a year in Jefferson Parish, you receive like a little pin or just something you know. All of these trappers, we do it from the kindness of our heart. We get zero back. We spend our time, effort, money, and energy on this because we love it and we don't get anything back, and we don't need anything back either. But the parish has a problem and we're here to solve it, and they should be backing us up like wholeheartedly. You know when you call the police because there's a dog tied up and they're like, oh I don't care about that. And it's like, no, it's against the law. I don't care whether you personally care about it or not. Do your job, follow through with it. We should be backed every way, shape and form from our government so that, 2026.

I'm glad you are on the front lines there, helping all the cats, and thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

All right. You're welcome. And that's all the time we have for today's episode. If you are in animal rescue, or if you know someone that has a story that should be told, please contact us. We would love to have you or them on the show Thanks for listening, and please join us next week as we continue to explore the world of animal rescue.