Twelve hundred feral cats is a lot of feral cats. And left unaltered, would become many more feral cats in short order. Dr. Wendy Wolfson of the Shelter Medicine Department began taking her students and a large mobile unit to the Louisiana State Penitentiary to spay and neuter these cats in 2014. With 400 spays and neuters under her belt, she asked the May HTR Foundation for help with the cost of medications and supplies to continue her project.
Working in a large prison presents its own challenges and Dr. Wolfson’s monthly reports never disappointed. From having to earn the trust of inmates so that they wouldn’t let the trapped cats out of cages to having to reschedule because of the annual prison rodeo to being unable to work as rapidly as usual because the inmate who was best at handling the cats was in solitary for fighting, she was able to alter hundreds more cats in 2015.
The project continues and now includes some of the many dogs on the prison grounds as well. It’s a hugely successful program and we are proud to have been even a small part of it.
