By Tabitha Evans Moore | Editor & Publisher
LOCAL NEWS — It’s around dusk on a Friday when an adult Calico cat darts between a headstone at the Lynchburg Cemetery and a nearby stack of bricks. He’s curious but not interested. As I approach to get a closer look, he flees into the tree line where I notice another adult black cat further in the distance.
These cats aren’t lost or separated from their owner. They’re part of a feral cat colony that roams from Lynchburg Head Start along Elm Street and to the cemetery. It’s one of nearly a dozen feral cat colonies in Moore County, according to officials at Lynchburg Friends of Animals (LFoA).
New Trap Neuter Release (TNR) Program
Feral cats differ from other unowned domestic cats like abandoned or strays in that they resist socialization. Though they may become comfortable with a human that feeds them, they don’t like being handled or touched and therefore can’t be transitioned back to pets.
They can also produce a lot of kittens. One female feral cat can have up to five litters of kittens per year. If you do the math, you’ll see the situation can quickly get out of hand.
That’s why Lynchburg Friends of Animals is asking for help with their new Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) Program. They need community volunteers to help trap feral cats, transport them to an area spay/neuter clinic, and then re-release them back into their colonies.
They also need volunteers to feed feral cat colonies in the following areas: near the Lynchburg Cemetery, the Lynchburg Square, Highway 82 near Jiffy Mart, Old Fayetteville Highway, near Jack Daniel’s Credit Union, the Damron Road area, Lois, Charity, Hurdlow, as well as both Pleasant Hill and Lake Forest subdivisions.
LFoA will pay all spay/neuter costs as well as provide food.
According to Moore County High School Guidance Counselor Amy Cashion, helping LFoA with the feral cat program would qualify as community service hours for the Tennessee Achieves scholarship program.
To volunteer, contact Lynchburg Friends of Animals at 931-434-7508. Or to donate money for the program, use PayPal and the LFoA email address ([email protected]) or mail a check to PO Box 8015, Lynchburg TN 37352. •