'Friends of Ferals': How Wolfe Islanders are dealing with an influx of hundreds of felines
At last count, there was more than 1 cat for every 3 humans on the island near Kingston Ont.
If you've ever heard a feral cat yowling outside your window late at night, you know what a piercing sound it can be.
Now, imagine you live with 500 of them. That's exactly the challenge facing the 1,400 people living on Wolfe Island, one of the Thousand Islands near Kingston, Ont.
The problem has plagued the island for several years, prompting about 20 people last year to form a group, Wolfe Island Friends of Ferals, to tackle the growing feral cat population.
"The ones that were already here are growing exponentially," Linda Thomas, one of the founders of Friends of Ferals, told CBC's Ontario Morning Thursday.
She pointed out that if you were to just visit Wolfe Island, you might not immediately notice just how many felines are prowling around. "You don't see great masses of cats, because most of them are in sheds or barns," she said.
The group traps the cats, then takes them to Kingston to be spayed or neutered. They'll also tag each cat by clipping one of their ears to keep track of the animals. They say they capture an average of six to eight cats per week.
Part of the problem, according to Thomas, is that Wolfe Island is being used as a drop-off point for unwanted animals from elsewhere.
"Any of the farmers here will tell you that they've seen people stop a car and drop off a single cat or a cat and kittens, because I think people feel there's a barn with mice and the cat will be all right," she said.
The group received $4,000 from the Community Foundation for Kingston And Area in the spring of 2017, to go towards veterinarian fees and the cost of purchasing traps to catch the cats.
However, that funding doesn't cover everything, forcing the group to fundraise continuously. After about a year in operation, they've trapped, sterilized and tagged more than 220 cats -- leaving hundreds of ferals still to be dealt with.
As for the humans on the island, the benefits are clear. According toThomas, since they've started tackling the feral cat problem, people are noticing a lot less yowling from the wild felines sharing the island with them..