3:30 p.m. Sunday, Le Nhat Long and members of the HAVE organization gathered at a park in Ho Chi Minh City. This third campaign has the participation of many volunteers who are university students.
In particular, in order to lure hundreds of stray cats hiding in the bushes, The group had to ask for help from Mr. Duong Van Lam, 65 years old. The man and his wife have been feeding the stray cats here for 5 years, so as soon as they hear the call, they will appear.
“Trap – Castrate – Release”
In the dozens of hectares of park, there are dozens of cat shelters. Mr. Lam led the group to frequently visited areas to feed the cats. While he put the food on the plate and called the cat out, team leader Nhat Long, wearing long gloves, waited behind him, waiting for the opportunity to catch it. As soon as he grabbed one, another member ran over with a bag. The cat struggled at first in fear, but when put in the bag, it lay still.
However, wild cats are highly alert by nature, so many times Long misses catching them. Not to mention, the park has many people coming to exercise in the afternoon, making them even more scared and easy to run away. This is also the time to test the group’s patience.
After nearly 3 hours, the group caught 5 fish. Of these, 2 are still young, 2 are pregnant and have to be taken home and cared for until they give birth. Only 1 is eligible for sterilization.
“5 years ago, I was walking and exercising in this park and saw many stray cats. Then my wife and I bought some cooked fish heads and mixed them with rice to feed them. The number of cats increased. “If it’s so fast in quantity, I’m afraid I won’t be able to handle it. When Long’s group asked for help in getting the cats sterilized, I thought it was great, so I immediately supported them,” Mr. Lam shared.
HavePaws is a project of the HAVE-a organization enterprise social non-profit registered as a legal entity in June last year established by Nhat Long. The purpose is to carry out projects for the community.
Cat sterilization campaign Wild groups are currently doing things that have appeared in the world like Australia and America… called “Trap – Neuter – Release” (Trap – Neuter- Release TNR). Volunteers will catch stray cats and sterilize them and release them back into the wild. Some of them can also be kept to find adoptive owners.
In November 2021, the Delray Beach city government spent $25,000 to sterilize and vaccinate about 10,000 stray cats before releasing them back into the wild.
The purpose of this action is to prevent the natural reproduction of cats. Because each year a female cat can give birth to up to 3 litters of 6-8 kittens each. The number of feral cats is increasing, leading to a scarcity of food in the living area.
They can go out into people’s houses to look for food, affecting the lives of people and other small creatures. At the same time, quality of life and safety are reduced even when there is a high risk of getting sick or being caught in meat traps…
Locations to catch feral cats will be kept secret and not made public for fear of This has become the address for people who intend to throw away kittens,” Vuong Kim Loan, a 27-year-old member of the organization, shared.
Journey of love
Nguyen Tan Hiep, 21 years old, student at Hutech University – participates in the organization as team leader Nhat Long to develop application solutions phone (app) and website. When the organization’s stray cat sterilization project started, Hiep enthusiastically participated. After two rounds, the boy also adopted a stray cat.
the most effective measure” Tan Hiep shared.
In the first round (February 5), because the group was inexperienced and did not use thick gloves to catch, they were scratched and scratched. One member was bitten and bleeding and had to be vaccinated against rabies. In phase 2 (February 12), everyone was more experienced so the same situation did not occur. After 2 rounds, the group caught 21 cats, of which 19 were sterilized and 14 found owners.
However, because catching cats constantly causes disturbances, they panic and become more cautious than Mr. Lam, so they don’t dare come out to eat. Therefore, the group decided to delay the third session for a longer period of time and move it to Sunday, March 19.
“The cats knew someone was coming to capture them, so they were more cautious and did not appear when I called them out to feed them,” Mr. Lam shared.
64-year-old park guard Nguyen Van Son said: “Previously This place has more than 100 stray cats. They give birth so much that they lack food so people go to exercise or feed them. The group’s work is a very good initiative because it helps reduce the number of natural cats.”
After 3 rounds of catching cats, the group has caught 26 cats. At first, the group simply thought that they just needed to catch them. The cat was sterilized and found an owner. However, the process was more difficult than they thought. Some of the cats brought back after veterinary examination had illnesses that needed treatment, and some were pregnant So the whole group had to find places to support care.
So in addition to patient efforts to catch stray cats, we also had the help of veterinarians to support sterilization costs. . Individuals volunteer to take care of cats during the post-operative period and while waiting to find a home.
Nhat Long shared that male cats need about 1 day to recover after sterilization, while female cats It takes about 5 days.
The kittens were usually finding owners of big cats quickly is more difficult. Not all animals adapt and interact with group members. Because they are used to being cautious and difficult to approach due to their wild nature, the group evaluates each case very carefully to decide on releasing them into the natural environment.
“The organization’s priority goal is successful sterilization. This helps minimize community problems when natural reproduction goes out of control while also limiting the number of kittens born “Survive in countless dangers. Even though we really want everyone to have a loving home, finding a home depends on many factors, not all stray cats are that lucky,” Nhat Long shared.
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