Ocean City, NJ -- Summer is a time of great enjoyment for most people. A time to relax, take vacations, barbecue and enjoy the nice warm weather. Many tourists also take up summer residences during this time of year.
Summer is a time of great stress for animal rescue groups an shelters nationwide. With summer comes the peak of kitten season. Shelters and rescue groups are innundated with calls about pregnant cats and kittens found, in addition to the usual strays that are found year around. Now that summer is winding down kitten season is almost over, but this doesn’t mean the shelters will get less calls.
The end of summer means tourists are leaving for their regular homes. In tourist cities like Ocean City, NJ this means an increase in newly abandoned cats. “People feed a stray all summer, and when they leave, that's when we get everything at once,” said Mark Fischer, assistant manager of the Ocean City Humane Society’s shelter. It’s an unfortunate truth in many vacation areas that the end of summer is the time when shelters get many calls about cats left behind.
Brian Lippai, a spokesman for the Ocean City Health Department says this also happens in Long Beach Island. Lippai said "When the summer's over and people shut up their homes, we notice there's a lot of cats roaming the streets." According to Lippai, several factors may contribute to this, including people who have taken a cat in for the summer and then abandon it when they leave, people who bring their own cats with them on vacation and then abandon them when they leave, and vacationers who have been feeding feral cat colonies during their vacation and have now left.
Once these cats are thrown away and forgotten, they must find a new food source so they start roaming the streets.
Cats, like other pets, are dependent on people for their well-being. A pampered house cat is ill equipped to deal with the dangers of street life and has no idea how to find food or shelter. It’s irresponsible and cruel to care for a cat all summer and then dump it when it’s time to go home.
If you’ve been caring for a stray cat this summer, please take him home with you when you leave. If you cannot do that, please find the cat a new home with a friend or rescue group, don’t just dump him out on the street and assume he’ll be fine. Your temporary pet is not a toy to be thrown away once you grow tired of him. He’s a living being with needs that has grown to depend on you for love, food, and shelter.
If you have a friend who is suddenly faced with the prospect of abandoning a cat, please take the cat in temporarily and find her a home or a spot with a rescue group. Just because your friend didn’t plan ahead, doesn’t mean the cat should suffer. You’ll be helping to save a life.
Source: Press of Atlantic City
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