Maui Feral Cats and Strawberry Skies

Tonight before sunset I drove out to a particular commercial property which employs many dozens of men on Maui. I knew it was late enough in the day that the employees had probably left the premises. There are many colonies of feral cats on the property. This company is on my way to and from downtown Kahului, so I do try to get out there to feed one of the colonies of cats every second day. I know that some of the men who work for the company do feed this particular colony sometimes. They also pour fresh water for the cats sometimes, but not quite often enough.

I belong to the Feline Foundation of Maui. Each caretaker within the Feline Foundation can borrow cat traps, trap a cat, take the cat into the Maui Humane Society or to a vet for spaying or neutering at a very low cost and then they can return the cat to its home vicinity when the cat is completely healed. For me, there are problems with these privileges. I can’t trap a cat and keep it outside all night in a cage. I know that the outcome is for the cat’s good. Believing that the outcome is the most important facet, many people who do this trapping are able to sleep at night even while knowing that the cat is scared out of its wits in the backyard, under a light covering, sitting in a cat trap. Knowing that there are many feral cat caretakers who can do this nightly trapping so that the cat is properly ‘fasted’ in preparation for the surgery the next day does not mean that I can master the ability to do it. I feel guilty about this inability of mine.

This little dilemma is unfortunate because it means that I am feeding feral cats and therefore contributing to their proliferation if I’m not also trapping, spaying or neutering and then returning them to their habitat. Theoretically, if I just let them die of starvation or thirst, it would be better for them because they would still multiply, but not so well. That's how some people feel about the cat problem on Maui. Others think the cats should be killed in an orderly fashion.

I have managed – with someone’s help – to do things correctly on several occasions, but that’s not nearly enough. I have had help from people in the actual trapping and then the person on two occasions has taken the cat to their own backyard to make it wait out the night. For some reason, I could sleep okay if the cat was enduring its fear and discomfort in someone else’s backyard. Also, I’ve been able to scruff several little feral kittens and get them to the Maui Humane Society in my cat carrier, so they could be adopted out. The feral kittens in these instances were socialized enough that they passed the Maui Humane Society’s three day socializing standards. I have digressed here, but I have been placing the background or context.

Late this afternoon when I went to feed the cats or to see if they were hungry or actually fine -- and make sure they have clean water. I did the usual tasks and was about to leave when a man and lady in a truck drove up to the open shed where I was exiting. They jumped down from the cab and asked if I’m feeding the cats. I admitted I was. The man smiled and said he has a colony near his office and he pointed down the road. He said he has been feeding and trapping the cats for many years. He has eleven cats in his colony right now. He regaled me with stories of taking his favorite feral cats home and having them stay as his pets. His wife loves animals as much as he does. He said that his coworkers often tease him about his cats and tells him to leave them alone to their fate. But he cannot bear to let the cats starve on the company premises. He is working toward getting each cat spayed or neutered in his area because a female newcomer to the colony brought kittens with her. There is a lot of traffic on the road 500 feet away from his office building and sheds, so he has skirted the entire front of the building with steel so that the cats and kittens won't wander from under the building to the road. We all laughed when he told me his boss said, "What do you think you're doing -- welding this steel for cats?"

When there is a dead, torn, and blood-covered cat on the road near or on the company property, he stops his company truck, gets out, cleans up the mess and buries the cat up on the hill.

This man and his wife and I enjoyed talking story (Hawaiian term for 'having a chat'). Then we said goodbye to one another and got in our vehicles to leave. I did my usual gas pedal, brake pedal, gas pedal, brake pedal routine to leave the parking lot so that I wouldn't kill any cat that may have ran under my car to crouch.

I felt happy. I no longer felt so alone in my challenges with the cats. I looked up at the sky as I drove away. The sun had almost set in the west.  For just another few seconds, there were bright pink and pale pink streamers strewn over white icecream mounds in the sky. It was a Strawberry Sundae Sunset which we only get a few times a month. I reached for my camera, but by then the sky was darkening.   Still, life felt good because I had been reminded that other people had had to develop their cat-caretaking skills a day at a time. Cat-caretakers are not born in the hospital, ready to go. I will progress. There is hope for my abilities and the beautiful little cats in my area.