Crisis at Tomball College

We were made aware of the feral cat colony at Tomball College around the end of July 07.  We started feeding and cleaning up the area around the feeding stations.  Our purpose was to inventory the cats, provide food while we could locate a volunteer to feed, and organize a mass trapping to get the cats fixed. In the last 2 weeks of August 07 we discovered that Cypress Creek Pest Control was  hired to remove the wildlife around campus, including the feral cats.  We've had conversations with Cypress Creek and the facilities staff at Tomball College.

According to Cypress Creek, they think of themselves as a no-kill solution because they relocate the wild animals (possums, raccoons, skunks) to other places where they can live in peace. They said they take the cats to the SPCA where they have a chance for adoption.  Ironically, the SPCA does not take owner turn-ins without a reservation first to evaluate behavior and adoption possibilities.  Feral cats are not candidates for adoption without time intensive socialization so they are usually taken straight to the back room and killed within minutes of drop off. This is not the fault of the SPCA; it is the reality of life when there are too many cats and not enough homes. And where people do not spay and neuter their pets.

Feral cats can co-exist with colleges and there are several in Texas that already work a feral cat program with the surrounding community support.

The current status is that the college has stopped trapping.  We still feed and watch out for traps and they refuse to consider a TNR program for the college.  There are no current updates and we monitor the situation.  We're keeping a record of this event in case it ever occurs again.