Rescue Roxy
While Simi Valley residents have been aware of the cats living behind the Target and Mervyn's for many years, the cats' terrible conditions were unknown. Many were being killed by cars, most horribly infested with fleas and parasites, and the females were having litter after litter of kittens.
In the summer of 2000, with the help of Lori Sorapuru and Carol Olson, I decided to help these kitties. At that time, there was a total of approximately 40 in the mall area - some five-year residents, others newly-dumped victims. With the cooperation of the cats' "caretaker," who regularly provided food and water, we began humanely trapping the cats, one at a time. After trapping, they were spayed or neutered, leukemia tested, vacinated and either placed in a home, or if too wild, sent to a private sanctuary. Some of the mothers had kittens, but as we did not know where the carefully hidden kittens were, we spent countless hours crawling through the bushes next to the freeway, looking for these litters. Kittens must be trapped before they become wild like their mothers.
After several months of trapping night after night, there were still many uncaught cats, and we knew that leaving any cats behind would be unacceptable as the population would climb again, so we moved to Plan B.
This plan required that Lori and I get up at 3:00 a.m., drive through Carl's Jr. to get fresh smelling chicken and fish and bait the traps before anyone else arrived in the area. We did, however, meet several of Simi's "finest," who no doubt thought we were crazy. These early morning adventures did trap more cats, but there were a few remaining who were too skittish to enter the traps.
On to Plan C. Carol suggested a new approach. She persuaded her husband, Lee, to build a "Super Trap," so large that the cats would not know they were entering. This special trap needed some special bait - something other than food - so "Roxy the Rat," my pet, was called into action. Roxy was quite used to cats, and was humanely placed in a small cage that was put inside the Super Trap. In her cat-proof carrier, Roxy successfully lured the remaining cats into the Super Trap, and all were caught.
In their new homes, the cats have access to fresh food and water, without cockroaches, ants, poisons or cars to harm them. Thank you, Carol, Lori, Lee and Roxy the Rat for making this possible.
Read more Pet Stories!
