The feral cats near Indian Lake have taken shelter in abandoned houses and boats since losing their homes after tornado disaster over two years ago, leading to a population explosion. Local residents and the Logan County TNR are doing what they can to lower the number of felines in the Midway area. (LOGAN COUNTY TNR PHOTO)
Fallout from the March 2024 tornado at Indian Lake continues to hit the area. Hard. Most recently, it’s in the influx of hundreds of cats in the Midway area near Lakeview.
Formerly a trailer park, the area was destroyed by the tornado, forcing residents to relocate. In doing so, many pet cats were left behind, leaving them hurt, scared and on their own.
Unfortunately, cats are prone to procreate, with females having two to three litters a year. This can lead to a single unspayed feline potentially birthing a dozen to over 30 kittens a year.
“They started multiplying,” one resident explained. “So now these pets have become a bunch of feral cats because they’re not around people anymore.”
For Julie McManus, treasurer for Logan County Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR), this just adds another level of difficulty to the disaster.
“These cats had homes before the tornado,” McManus said. “So many things so wrong happened to people in trailer parks at the lake, and they probably had more on their minds than these cats.”
It’s turning into an almost impossible situation.
Then, on Oct. 6, a tragedy turned exponentially worse when people found over 40 dead cats in the span of two days. As far as they can tell, the animals were poisoned, possibly by antifreeze or, even worse, rat poison.
McManus has a message for anyone who would purposely kill cats:
“It’s a felony. Every time, it’s a felony.” On a sadder note, she added, “It’s a horrible way to kill a cat. It’s just unconscionable.”
As McManus sees it, this is a human-created problem. The cats didn’t choose a homeless existence. But now they’re in a place where reproduction continues unchecked, they live through all the difficulties of the changing seasons, suffer injuries and have to fight and hunt for food.
Their previous owners, in many cases, had failed to spay or neuter these animals, then abandoned them, leading a population explosion. And now people in those areas are tasked with having to do something about it.
Neighbors like the one the Chronicle spoke to are doing what they can to feed and/or trap the cats for neutering. But, she said, she knows it’s making people mad and, “next thing you know, we start finding carcasses all over the neighborhood.”
Whatever they do, it’s not going to be a quick or easy fix. With that in mind, McManus offers the following practical suggestions:
Spay or neuter your own cats. If private veterinary prices are too high, look for low-cost spay/neuter clinics, mobile clinics or community-cat programs.
Work with TNR. Residents can identify the cats in their area, coordinate trapping and transportation and work through the problem, even if it’s just a few cats at a time.
Feed responsibly and at consistent times. Remove leftover food and keep feeding areas clean.
Use nonlethal deterrents if you do not want cats on your property, including motion-activated sprinklers, securing trash and blocking access under decks or sheds once you make sure you don’t have any kittens living there.
Ask community leaders to help. Residents can go to township, village or city meetings and ask local officials, churches, civic groups and businesses to support low-cost spay/neuter clinics, transportation, grants or sponsorship of surgeries.
Most importantly, poisoning cats is not a solution but an extraordinarily cruel way for an animal to die. It’s also a felony. And, McManus said, “It does nothing to address the underlying problem of unaltered cats continuing to reproduce.”
McManus continued: “Irresponsible human behavior created this problem. Responsible human action is the only way we’re going to fix it.”
Donations are, of course, always helpful. For information or guidance from Logan County TNR, message them through their Facebook page or email McManus at [email protected].
