TEHACHAPI, Calif. (KERO) — A Tehachapi group is working to make spaying and neutering more accessible.
Kern County residents have probably seen the news about the upcoming kitten season, as well as the encouraging messages about fixing pets to slow the increasing amount of unowned animals in Kern County. What they might not see, however, is the impact of the lack of spaying and neutering.
“I ask questions about 'What's with the cats running around outside' and 'Oh, well they are feral they keep having babies.' So I started going down there and trapping,” explained Gina Christopher, founder of Fixin' Feral Felines, when asked how the Tehachapi group began.
Recently, Fixin' Feral Felines received a bump in funding from the Kern County Board of Supervisors.
The rescue group's daily tasks include finding cat colonies, making the trip from Tehachapi to Bakersfield to fix them, and then vaccinating and microchipping kittens ready for adoption.
Before any of that can start, however, they have to trap the cats.
“We put the traps out," explained Christopher. "We set them, we bait them, we put the food towards the back, and then you just kinda walk away.”
“You wanna cover the trap as soon as you get a cat in it because they are scared and they get really anxious," explained Alex with Rescue Meowtain while giving a trapping demonstration. "Especially in this town, they overheat really easily. You just wanna keep them calm and that keeps them more safe.”
Now with an extra $2,500 in funds, the group is hoping to expand its services to those who can not afford fees.
“For spaying cats, it is either $60 if they're a girl [or] $50 if they're a boy," explained Vicky Thrasher, Executive Director for Critters Without Litters. "Dogs range anywhere from $80 to $180 depending on their sex and how much they weigh.”
Christopher says that at the end of the day, she just wants to help others do the right thing.
“With that money, I'm hoping to help out people that cannot afford to go to the vet and spend 200 dollars to have a stray or their personal pet fixed,” she said. “A lot of people want to do the right things, they want to spay and neuter their cats and dogs of course but they just don't have the funds”.
“Anyone who has a cat that wants to get fixed, I will gladly help them,” she continued.
As always there are many resources to fix your pets here in Kern County as well as opportunities to foster and adopt. For more information, visit the Kern County Animal Services website.
