 "Photo: Steve Lewis")
Cecilia Finger opened the door of a small cage covered in an old bath towel and waited patiently for its occupant to wander out into the cool morning air. It was 7 a.m. on a Thursday, and Finger was returning a newly neutered and vaccinated tomcat to its stomping grounds on the Texas Tech campus.
After taking a few cautious steps away from the cage, the cat hesitated. Then, instead of putting some distance between itself and the woman responsible for its recent 36-hour ordeal, the tomcat walked over to a bowl nearby and started eating the food left for it and its neighbors.
This tomcat is a member of one of a dozen or more cat colonies on the Tech campus managed by KittiCo. West Texas, a non-profit, no-kill organization that also fosters some cats until permanent homes can be found for them. Finger, who is part of a small staff of KittiCo. volunteers, said the organization has spayed or neutered more than 200 cats since it began providing the service free of charge to Tech in 2003.
Finger said the total number of cats living on campus is difficult to estimate, but it is common to see an increase in the feline population this time of year, and Tech students may play a part in that. Because many Tech students living on and off campus will be moving away at the end of the semester, Finger is concerned unwanted pets may be left behind, further boosting the population of cats and other animals on campus.
Having a sizeable population of cats is not something unique to Tech, said Mary Hatfield, an executive committee officer for The Humane Society of West Texas. All universities have cat populations, and a number of universities in Texas also have trap-and-release programs similar to the one at Tech.
Hatfield said she believes students living both on and off campus play a role in perpetuating the cat population, along with other cat owners in neighborhoods near Tech who abandon their pets or don't have them spayed or neutered. Hatfield said Tech is a source of food, water and shelter for area cats, and many of them simply drift in from surrounding neighborhoods. Hatfield said new construction, like the on-going construction at Overton Park, also drives cats away from their home territories and onto the Tech campus.
Although Tech is playing host to about a dozen colonies of cats, there are advantages to trapping the stray felines, spaying or neutering them and releasing some of them back onto campus, Finger said.
"They take care of mice, they take care of rats (and) they destroy snakes and insects," Finger said. "They're a benefit to have around."
Finger said the program is more humane than euthanasia.
Finger said she and her four assistants have their hands full keeping up with the demand of feeding, trapping and fostering the campus cats as well as the other cat colonies they manage throughout Lubbock and Plainview.
She said Tech students can help KittiCo. West Texas care for Tech's cat population by volunteering to feed, trap or foster the stray felines until homes can be found. More importantly, though, Finger said students can help by spaying or neutering their pets and not abandoning unwanted pets if they find they can no longer care for them.
Students interested in volunteering with KittiCo. West Texas can call Cecilia Finger at (806) 780-0503, e-mail her at kittico-westtexas@gmail.com or visit the Web site: www.kittico-westtexas.org
Hatfield said students interested in adopting pets from the Humane Society can go to PetSmart at 6801 Slide Road on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sundays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Hatfield said PetSmart will be extending adoption times during the Adopt-A-Thon Friday through Sunday. The number for the Humane Society of West Texas is (806) 799-PETS.
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