When Gail Churchill’s beloved kitty Bertie died, it hurt so much she swore she’d never adopt another cat. Then along came Jonesy.
Jonesy, a little orange male tabby, is one of thousands of felines for which East Bay animal rescue group Island Cat Resources and Adoption has found loving new homes over the past 30 years. (photo courtesy of Gail Churchill)
Gail is a volunteer with ICRA (short for Island Cat Resources and Adoption, an Alameda animal rescue group). A few weeks ago, ICRA got a call about a man feeding four feral kittens in his backyard near Alameda’s golf course. So she went there, humanely trapped the kittens and took them to a local vet for vaccinations, spaying or neutering and a medical checkup.
After the surgeries she brought them home to recover and be fostered. Three turned out to be too feral for adoption, so they went back to the kind man’s backyard, where they will likely be fed and cared for every day for the rest of their lives. However, the last kitten was a little orange male tabby that was loving, friendly, engaging and as sweet and can be.
“It took me a week before I was in love,” Gail says.
Fall in love she did, though, and she fell hard. She named him Jonesy, after Sigourney Weaver’s orange cat in the “Alien” movies.
“We are inseparable,” she reports a month later now. “I wasn’t going to adopt again, but I had to make this exception. And every day I’m so glad I did!”
Jonesy has completely acclimated to his new home and housemates — Gail’s other cats — without even one hiss.
“Want a hot tip for adopting a cat?” she says. “Make it an orange male. My vet calls them the golden retriever of cats.”
ICRA has been humanely trapping cats and kittens in Alameda and other nearby cities for 30 years, spaying or neutering 30,227 felines and finding loving new homes for 4,682. To understand the immensity of the challenge, keep in mind that one female and her offspring can produce 1,352 kittens in just six years. It’s a cruel life for stray cats not only because of starvation and disease, but also because they’re easy prey for hawks, owls, falcons, coyotes and the most dangerous species of all — us.
Killing them is no answer. That was tried a few years ago by the East Bay Regional Park District, and it was a flop because cats can reproduce a lot faster than we can kill them, to say nothing of the abject cruelty.
There’s just one solution: Attack the problem from the supply side and prevent those unwanted kittens from being born in the first place. That’s what ICRA does. Volunteers humanely trap cats and kittens and whisk them off to a vet for spay or neuter surgery and medical and dental checkups.
Cats that are young enough to be socialized are placed in foster homes. Those that can’t be socialized, like Jonesy’s littermates, are returned to where they were trapped or found, where they will likely be fed, watered and watched over by kind humans for the rest of their lives.
ICRA is strictly a volunteer organization, as nobody is paid. On the contrary, many volunteers dig into their own pockets to buy food and other supplies the cats need, and many of the vets who do the surgeries for ICRA do them for a discount because they know how serious the problem is.
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If you want to help, there are two ways. You can to donate funds on ICRA’s website at icraeastbay.org/donate (and see photos of some very cute kitties that are up for adoption while you’re at it). Or you can take the fun way Friday through Sunday, Dec. 6-8, by attending ICRA’s Pawliday Boutique and 30th Anniversary Celebration in Alameda’s Elks Lodge at 2255 Santa Clara Ave.
The events of Dec. 6 will combine the anniversary celebration party, featuring champagne and cake, with a toast and comments at 6:30 p.m. as well as “early bird” holiday shopping from 4 to 8 p.m. The entry fee will be $10, which also gets you a raffle ticket for one of four big prizes (see online details at icraeastbay.org/shop-at-our-pawliday-boutique).
The boutique will run from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Dec. 7 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 8. You’ll find one-of-a-kind jewelry, hand-crafted gifts, baked treats, holiday décor and gift wrap, cat-themed items, vintage treasures, succulents, potted plants and more. There will be no entry fee Dec. 7-8, and the raffle will keep running all weekend. Have fun, and tell them Jonesy sent you.
Martin Snapp can be reached at catman442@comcast.net.