The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Cat colony at mobile home park represents a nationwide problem

Third injured firefighter remains at burn unit
Updated 23 min. ago
Lebanon Police Officer of year inspired by grandfather
2:21 p.m.
Sheriff to target drug trafficking on highways
11:59 a.m.
Ohio can finally collect $2.3M in fines
10:22 a.m.
Top grads plan challenging careers
10:17 a.m.
> More headlines

Representatives from the nonprofit groups Save Cats and Obliterate Over Population and Cat-Tales Rescue visited Middletown on Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010, to assess the large cat population at a trailer park, which is said to house as many as 125 cats.

Staff photo by Apryl Pilolli Representatives from the nonprofit groups Save Cats and Obliterate Over Population and Cat-Tales Rescue visited Middletown on Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010, to assess the large cat population at a trailer park, which is said to house as many as 125 cats.

By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer Updated 2:40 PM Tuesday, August 17, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — Despite the hot sun cooking the air that August morning, once the plates of canned food began hitting the ground, hungry cats crawled out from under trailers and out of the brush.

How the 125 cats came to live in a mobile home park in Middletown is a series of unfortunate events — some were left behind when families moved, some were born feral. Still more were seen dumped off in bags on the side of the road.

The mobile home park, which was not identified at the request of the park owner to protect the animals, may be overrun with cats, but area experts say it represents a snapshot of a nationwide pet population problem.

Four million cats and dogs — or one every 8 seconds — are euthanized at shelters every year across the nation, according to the U.S. Humane Society.

And while steps in recent years have helped reduce canine over-breeding, there are still too few programs taking an aggressive stance on spaying and neutering cats, said Meg Stephenson, executive director at Animal Friends Humane Society.

The shelter in Butler County has taken in 2,850 cats this year — 507 more than at the same point last year, she said.

Barb Wehmann and Ed Lentz, a couple from Springfield Twp. in Hamilton County who run Save Cats and Obliterate Over Population — SCOOP — have offered to help trap, neuter or spay and release the cats in the mobile home park. The nonprofit group is looking for volunteers to help trap and care for the cats.

“The key is they didn’t want these cats to be harmed in any way,” Wehmann said.

Share this article