Group works to end pet over-population

RATHDRUM – Soft-hearted souls feed the stray cats that wander Rathdrum’s streets, but that’s not enough, according to Concerned People for Animals volunteer Candice Fry.

“People think they’re helping the animals,” she said. But if they allow strays to interbreed, it’s no help at all, she insists.

Fry has witnessed firsthand the devastation of kittens born in cat colonies. Recently, she tried to nurse one to health that was born without eyes, just empty sockets. That kitten didn’t live.

Fry and Ami Jo Gibson, Idaho’s Concerned People for Animals director, hatched a plan last year to target people who have trouble paying for pet spaying and neutering.

The nonprofit, volunteer-run group’s prime goal is to end the pet overpopulation problem. The group works with local veterinarians to provide low-cost surgery and pledges to help anyone in need.

Fry knew from volunteering at the Rathdrum Thrift Store that people who visit the food bank need help feeding their animals, too.

“They pulled at my heart,” Fry said. “They dearly love their pets.”

Customers include senior citizens, veterans, disabled people and “anybody who is down on their luck,” Fry said.

Gibson worried about outdoor cats that lose their food supply during the winter when their hunting prospects run dry. Reaching out to people who have trouble feeding their pets also might bring out people who can’t afford spaying and neutering services, she thought.

So Gibson and Fry asked if they could set up a shed behind the thrift store and food bank on Main Street to warehouse donations of pet food.

“The idea was that a lot of people who don’t have money wouldn’t be able to feed their animals,” Gibson said. “It’s a logical place to get their pet food.”

A grant was secured to pay for the shed, and the two women found a use for the 1970 International truck that was donated to Concerned People for Animals. They made rounds to businesses and toned their muscles hauling large bags of pet food.

The Target store in Coeur d’Alene has been extremely generous, and the women visit there at least once a week, Gibson said. Other bags of outdated dry food and dented cans of pet chow come from a Spokane-based pet food company and Second Harvest Food Bank.

The cat food supply dwindles quickly because some customers are feeding colonies of a dozen cats or more.

“We’re always in need of cat food,” Gibson said. “We try to keep the shelves stocked. Sometimes, there’s nothing there, and definitely, the food is not sitting there.”

The Concerned People for Animals group is generous with whatever edibles it can gather, but there is a catch. The animals receiving food must be spayed or neutered.

The group loans its live humane traps if necessary and offers to help owners with surgery costs.

“They pay what they can afford – one or two dollars if that’s all they have,” Fry said.

Last year, Concerned People for Animals was responsible for 2,312 altering surgeries. This year, 2,099 surgeries have been performed.

Strays from cat colonies are branded with a clipped ear to signify they have been altered. For example, Miss Kitty, a friendly black Rathdrum stray, was captured, spayed and released, then found a home as the thrift store mascot.

She pounces onto any shoulder within reach and patrols the premises for vermin. In exchange, she receives free affection from volunteers and a steady diet of cat cuisine.

Food bank volunteers agreed to distribute the pet food as they man the Rathdrum facility Mondays through Fridays.

Fry says she finds that most customers are extremely appreciative and only a few take advantage of the system or try to skirt the requirement to alter their pets.

“Some people seem to think if they get a male (pet), they don’t have to neuter,” Fry said.

The Rathdrum food bank has been in operation for about nine years. Quite a few people ask store volunteer Donna Fritzsche about food for their pets, she said.

Fritzsche has lived in Rathdrum for 45 years and has volunteered for about as long as the food bank has been operating. Before Concerned People for Animals’ efforts, pet food occasionally was available – but not a steady supply, she said.

Other area food banks report the same sporadic inventory.

“We just gave whatever people donated,” Fritzsche said.

She hands out pet food from the Concerned People for Animals’ stash to about 10 families per week and occasionally indulges in help for the cats in her neighborhood.

“We have a bunch of strays I’ve been feeding and trying to catch and fix,” she said. “I feel sorry for them. I can’t let them go hungry.”

A few trapped skunks have been an unexpected part of that experience for Fritzsche, so she understands other pet owners’ frustrations.

She says she is pleased with the pet food supply that Concerned People for Animals has stocked and agrees it’s a good idea to see that the animals are fixed.

“There are so many animals that are unwanted,” Fritzsche said.

Gibson says she gets daily requests for help with spaying and neutering surgery and routinely is asked about pet food.

“I really felt the need,” she said. “A day doesn’t go by when I don’t get a phone call.”