'Boy, did they ever get 'er done': Cats rescued from Little Bay Islands now in N.S.

Hugh Chisholm says the mission to rescue the abandoned and feral cats onLittle Bay Islands was like a military operation.

Residents are resettling and services to the island in Notre Dame Bay,Newfoundland, are set to be cut off on Dec. 31. When the provincial government proposed euthanizing the cats, concerned groups quickly mobilized.

"When we hear that something can't be done we get out backs up and we decide that we're going to do it," said Chisholm, vice-president of Spay Day HRM Society in Nova Scotia.

"They just set about to get 'er done, as they say, and boy did they ever get 'er done."

Volunteers with Spay Day and Healing Animal SCARS in Nova Scotia worked with Sunshine Kitty Rescue in Corner Brook and Deer Lake Kitty Rescue to get people to the island to trap as many cats as possible.

"It was storming when they went over, it was storming when they came back, so it was a harrowing expedition. The trappers when they got back here in Halifax they were exhausted, it was pretty tough."

Thirty-seven cats from Little Bay Islands that were trapped over two days and are now recovering in an old office building provided by the Nova Scotia SPCA. One kitten, nicknamed Little Bae, stayed with local volunteersand is currently is the process of being adopted.

The next step will be to have the cats already in Halifax assessed, spayed or neutered and sent to good homes. Those that are too feral to be adopted will become barn catson rodent patrol.

Local rescuers stayed an extra day after the Nova Scotia team left and trapped another adult male and three kittens.

Need to hitch a ride

Sonya Higgins of Healing Animal SCARS Cat Rescue in Dartmouth said air transport for the animals isn't suitable, so they're now trying to find a way to get them to Halifax as well preferably with someone travelling in a heated vehicle on the Marine Atlantic ferry from Port aux Basques to North Sydney that has room for one or two cat carriers.

Rescuers believe there are at least two cats still on the island, and Mike and Georgina Parsons, the only people staying on in Little Bay Islands for the winter, will be monitoring traps and feeding any stragglers until they can be caught.

"We don't want anybody left behind and you know starving or freezing to death or anything," said Chisholm.

"That's the kind of thing that makes us worry when there's animals outdoors that should be indoors in a safe place, or in a shelter or someplace where they be looked after properly."

A fundraising campaign to help the Little Bay Islands cats with the motto, homeless doesn't mean disposablehas surpassed $20,000.

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