SHINNSTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Humane Society of Harrison County recently received two grants that may help Harrison County residents help their pets.
One grant helps fund a voucher to assist low-income families with $75 off the initial price of getting indoor cats and dogs spayed or neutered. Requirements for this voucher include proofs of income for applicable household members and full completion of their application.
The second grant comes from the West Virginia Department of Agriculture as a “TNR” focused spay/neuter grant. This grant helps fund vouchers of $100 for feral or stray cats to get fixed. This requires help in capturing stray cats and bringing them to the Humane Society of Harrison County.
Capturing a feral cat is a job easier said than done. 12 News spoke with the Humane Society of Harrison County’s Executive Director, Frankie Dennison, on some tips for safely trapping cats in need.
“We do understand that it is incredibly hard to catch them,” Dennison said. “One of the biggest things you can do is put something over the trap, so they don’t realize they’re going into a trap. We’ve heard of everything from a cardboard box to even a pillowcase. And what the cat will think is, it’s kind of a hiding hole and use something really smelly like rotisserie chicken or sardines or any kind of smelly fish.”
Dennison explained why it is so important to help feral cats during this time.
“Stray and feral cats in this county are one of our largest issues with the homeless animal population, and every year we have an explosion of kittens during this time of year, it’s called kitten season, and by spaying and neutering these animals we can drastically cut those numbers down,” Dennison said.
These vouchers are only applicable to Harrison County residents.