On July 17, Megan Sorbara posted a photo of a black and white tuxedo cat on Facebook, begging for help. She trapped for the wild cat the night before and took him to the home services for animals of Collier, DAS, the next morning to get better. The staff turned it.
“Keep a wild cat in a cage for two weeks? Release it and never catch it again?” Sorbara writes with powerlessness. “This is the kitten season, you need to at least continue TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), you know that you try and” fix “the problem, so you don’t have to exclude intake year after year.”
Earlier this month, the district shelter announced that it would temporarily stop the intake of a public cat from July 14 to July 30, citing a jump in infectious diseases. But for many of the Community to rescue animals of Collier County, the closure is another sign of a system that struggles to keep up with the growing overpopulation and leave the residents a place to turn.
“Despite the best efforts of our employees and volunteers, we are currently dealing with an increase in infectious diseases in cats,” said DAS Director Meredith McLean in a press release. “The temporary pause of the reception will help us reduce our census to cats, protect the health of animals already in our care, and allow us to focus our resources on emergency, critical cases.”
The shelter reported a 60% increase in cat intake this June compared to the same time last year. DAS only accepted cats who were critically ill, injured or risky during the closure of a suction.
This is not the first time the shelter has closed its intake. In August 2024, the district shelter stopped reception after multiple cats tested positively for cat panleukopenia, a deadly and highly infected virus. Each time, local rescuers are left to fill the gap if they can.
More: Collier Caths face constant challenges. Temporary shelter closing did not help
What did you mean to rescuers like Megan Sorbara?
Sorbara, who runs Purradise Gardens, a non -profit rescue in Naples, said he had no choice but to pay $ 260 for a private veterinarian to invite the cat that the county shelter turned. It relies on the TNR program for a county shelter to help control wild cat populations, especially during the kitten season.
“This puts more ongoing pressure and more costs for those small groups that are not funded as they are (DAS),” Sorbara said. “We have no staff. We have no salaries. We have no volunteers. We have no whole county behind us and that just puts a lot of pressure on the other groups.”
For her, stopping was not a logistical failure; It was an abuse of public resources.
“These are the district tax dollars that work in this shelter, and the county (taxpayers) should be able to use it when they need it,” she said.
“This is not a surprise. It happens every year,” Sorbara said, adding that closing like this is not new and the county should be better prepared.
“I understand that they have closed the reception to avoid all these animals to get sick,” she said, “but at the same time you know what happens every year, you know what’s going on during the kitten season, you know what’s going on in the summer. This seems to always happen, so have a plan.”
Where to go when the district shelter is closed
While taking DAS’s cats was stopped, residents looked at private veterinarians or non -profit groups. Some of these groups include:
Residents are encouraged to call forward as many local organizations are close or capacity.
What can you do?
Defenders say a permanent change will require a combination of policy changes, community involvement and people who are activated to help.
Here’s how you can help:
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Spay and castrate your pets
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Be the responsible owner of pets from microchping, licensing and providing your pets
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Support local rescue groups through donation, volunteering and encouragement
The district shelter urges residents to consider the promotion or adoption of animals already in their care. All adoption fees have been canceled until September 9.
“We provide all veterinary care, consumables and support; you just provide space and love,” McLean said. “Even a short -term intake can make a life -saving difference for these animals and help us reduce our cat population.”
Crisis that does not disappear
As of July 30, the shelter opened its cat intake again. Without significant changes in the application, financing and commitment of the Community, defenders fear that more exceptions are inevitable.
“Employees will not capture. They said it takes too long. They really lean on other organizations to do this work. And then what? We don’t get any of it.”
Her group consists entirely of volunteers and depends solely on donations. “There is only so much space that we have,” she said.
Despite more than a decade of effort, the need did not give up. The Non -Profit organization of sorbara has focused its work on an industrial park near Shilli and Taylor Road Street, where volunteers feed over 100 wild cats every night. “Even with all our efforts to capture and our daily meals and care, we still get kittens,” she said, adding that work costs about $ 3,000 a month.
While the district funding for animal control exists, sorbara said it did not reach the Earth boots that do daily work on the ground. “There is funding there, but they just don’t use it,” Sorbara said.
Mickenzie Hannon is a guardian of the guard for News-Press and Naples Daily News, covering the cities of Color and Lee. Contact it at 239-435-3423 or mhannon@gannett.comS
This article originally appeared at Naples Daily News: Collier County shelter will reopen the intake of cats after a pause to fight the disease