By: NICOLAS FIERRO
Salina Post
The Trap and Release program at the Salina Animal Services is a great way to maintain public health, manage cat colonies, address nuisance behaviors, protect against wildlife and improve community engagement by volunteering.
According to Andrea Born, Animal Services Operations Manager, every 3rd Thursday is the trap and release day. The shelter takes in public dogs, but not public cats.
Instead, they receive "Community Cats," which are free roaming, unowned cats who are managed by Salina Animal Services to control the cat population, improve health and welfare, as well as decrease the shelter intake.
Cats are trapped safely, usually the night before Thursday and are brought in from community members as they can borrow traps from the shelter too.
The shelter will then Spay or neuter, give a 1-year rabies vaccine and ear tip the cat. People who brought them in will then pick up the cat, and safely return them to the same location they picked them up to prevent repopulation.
There are some stipulations such as, if the temperatures are under 30 degrees overnight from Wednesday into Thursday morning, the shelter will cancel the trap and release day and wait till the next month. This is due to keeping the cats safe from being in the traps during below freezing temperatures.
The shelter has vaccinated and sterilized a total of 162 cats so far this year.
For more information, visit: https://www.salina-ks.gov/animal-services