Volunteer opportunity -- feral cat trapping project in Curtis Bay, Aug. 22-23

[Erin]

Greetings!

We're looking for volunteers to help with a large feral cat trapping
project in the Curtis Bay neighborhood of Baltimore next weekend,
August 22-23.

Volunteers with all levels of feral cat experience (or no experience
at all) are welcome. If you have never trapped feral cats before, this
is a great opportunity to see how it's done -- you'll have a chance to
watch Baltimore's best cat-trappers in action!

See the email below for some information on what type of volunteer
positions are available. If you're interested, email or call Dawn
Rowley, whose contact information is below.

Thanks for caring about the forgotten cats of Baltimore!

Erin

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <catn...@aol.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 2:49 PM
Subject: Curtis Bay Aug 22 weekend
To: Catn...@aol.com


Hi all,

Well, we’re gearing up for another event and looking for volunteers!

Here is the scoop. It’s a 70 cat site in Curtis Bay and extends over
several city blocks. It is centralized at 4501 Curtis Ave, 21226.
The area is split between commercial and residential and I’m still
trying to locate all of the feeders. They are coming forward slowly.

Here is the schedule:

Sat Aug 22 (am): This is the main trapping day and we’ll be starting
in the early morning. The official starting time will be set in the
near future, but if you need to arrive later, that is ok. Experienced
and non-experienced are welcome as trappers will be working in teams.
This is where I’ll need the most of volunteers.

Sat Aug 22 (pm): We will begin the feeding and newspaper process in
the holding area. Whoever is doing this task needs to be comfortable
using an isolator because this may be in an area not totally enclosed
and we don’t want any escapes. Also the person using the isolator
will be spending most of the time on the ground as the cats will be
kept there propped up on 2x4 boards so they are not sitting directly
on the floor. I will be filling one of these positions personally and
would like 2 more in the same task.

If you would like to work in the holding area but not be in this
position, food and water prep is needed. This keeps the people
working with the traps on the floor and the others preparing food/
water/newspapers and delivering them so the people on the floor don’t
have to keep getting up and down.

Sat Aug 22 (late pm): Need 1 or 2 people (with me) to pull food but
leave water in prep for surgery the next day.

Sun Aug 23 (am): Meet at 7am to pull water, replace newspaper and
load the traps into vans for transport to the MDSPCA.

There will not be an on-site mobile unit clinic this time. If you like
working in the clinic, please let me know and I’ll get you the contact
number for the MDSPCA. We get a discount for several cats for
volunteers, so this is helpful.

Also on Sunday, I would like to continue trapping while these cats are
at the clinic. Cats trapped on this day will go another clinic on
Monday or Tuesday. I’ll have an idea of how many trappers needed when
we finish on Saturday.

Sun Aug 23 (pm): Transporters are needed to meet at the MDSPCA to
bring the cats back to the holding area for the night. Details on
this will come later. I’m going to see if they will let us take cats
throughout the day instead of all at one time. Stay tuned.

Trapping can continue all day or until we can’t stand it anymore.

Mon Aug 24 (am): Time for the morning feeding. One isolator savvy
person (along with me) and one person delivering food/water/newspaper
should do it.

Also, if needed (and if anyone can still stand it) we can trap in the
morning before releasing the cats.

Mon Aug 24 (pm): All cats that don’t need to be held an extra day,
will be returned. Help with transport may be needed depending on
where the holding area is located. I’m hoping to have this confirmed
by the end of this week.

This is a quick summary of positions:

Sat (am): Trappers (many needed)

Sat (pm): Feeder (on ground – isolator savvy) – 2 needed
Sat (pm): Feeder support (scoops and delivers food, etc) – 3 needed
Sat (late pm): Pull food – 1 or 2 needed

Sun (am): Pulling water/clean cages (on ground – isolator savvy) – 1
needed
Sun (am): Support (supplies clean newspaper) – 1 needed
Sun (am): Loaders and transporters – To be determined because of
vehicles
Sun (am): Trappers if needed. I will be joining group when I get
back from the MDSPCA

Sun (pm): Transporting from MDSPCA to holding area. Details later.
Sun (pm): Feeder (on ground – isolator savvy) – 2 needed
Sun (pm): Feeder support – 2 or 3 needed

Mon (am): Feeder (on ground – isolator savvy) – 1 needed
Mon (am): Feeder support – 2 needed
Mon (am): Trappers if needed. (Seriously…I must be kidding?)

Mon (pm): Returning cats. Transport may be needed. Details later.
Mon (pm): If anyone is left and seriously ambitious, I take all the
traps directly to the car wash to clean them up. Any help is greatly
appreciated. After that, I return all borrowed traps before heading
back to the holding area to pick up the cats still remaining to take
them home.

I have sent this email to several groups. So when responding, please
make sure only my email address is in the sender area.
Catn...@aol.com. I’m planning on emailing back all the assignments
the week prior to event.

Thanks in advance to all who can help. Please don’t hesitate to
contact me if you have any questions. The best way to catch me is by
cell. Email is ok, but it might take me a while to get back to you.


Dawn Rowley
Cell (484) 433-0159

[Erin Harty]