Killeen Daily Herald
June 16, 2005, Page B1

Refuge will give feral animals nurturing

By Sarah Chacko
Killeen Daily Herald

It doesn't take a trip to the woods to find wild animals. Just head to downtown Killeen.

After the businesses close, the streets belong to a special breed of homeless - feral cats.

The animals are hard to track and even harder to help, and the Assisi Animal Refuge is undertaking the task to eliminate feral cat colonies and, at the very least, make them less of a health hazard.

The Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce inducted the non-profit organization with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday.

Chamber executive vice president Jack Wade said the group was the first of its kind within the chamber.

"It definitely addresses a need in the city," Wade said.

Set up in the extra space of a law and bail bonds office, the refuge started as a concept about a year ago. Beginning with "humane education" which teaches about the proper care of animals and environmental issues - in schools to first- through fifth-graders, the idea spread to a more active approach when former Centex Humane Society president George Fox approached Assisi executive director Mary Beth Harrell.

Harrell said the organization's goal is to capture, spay or neuter, and release. The "virtual refuge" does not keep any animals.

Fox, now the president of Assisi, said the city euthanizes more than 3,000 cats a year.

"It's our job to help those that can't help and can't defend themselves," he said.

Theresa Larson of Killeen is currently providing foster care to three kittens rescued from a feral cat colony.

Larson said she wanted to help because she knows how fast the cats can reproduce and how out of control it can become.

"Anyone who drives or walks downtown will see a cat," she said. "They're all over the place."

Senior animal control officer Roy Johnson said feral cats are all over town, but the majority are in the downtown area.

He said the group's efforts should be effective at least in reducing the number of cats by cutting down on their reproduction rates.

Normally, feral cats are wild and not adoptable. But kittens that are found could be domesticated early, fostered and eventually adopted out, Johnson said.

Assisi has already identified eight different cat colonies in the Killeen and Harker Heights area.

The refuge is a real benefit to the city, which couldn't possibly afford to even spay and neuter the hundreds of thousands of feral cats in the area, Harrell said.

The organization will host a shot clinic from 1 to 4:30 p.m. on July 16 outside its downtown office at 201 E. Avenue C. (Note added 7-13-05: The location has changed to city hall, at 101 North College, 2:30 - 4:30 pm)

Harrell said there are many low-income families with pets who cannot afford shots, putting both them and their neighbors at risk for diseases.

"Somebody's got to do it and it's got to start somewhere," Harrell told the small crowd of chamber members, city officials and Assisi volunteers.

Two local vets - Dr. Michael Joyner of East Lake Veterinary Clinic and Dr. Robert Murry Jr. of Aztec Pet Hospital - have been volunteering their time and providing "at cost" clinics.

Harrell said the group sends a positive message about the community - that they are interested in caring about animals.

"Any living creature is not just a disposable item," she said. "They are everyone's responsibility."

Contact Sarah Chacko at schacko@kdhnews.com

Link to KASPA Back to the home page