By Cortney Casey STERLING HEIGHTS — Mere seconds after Pam Laird pops her Jeep’s rear hatch, a vocal black cat, sensing a meal, steps from the shadows in the Chrysler Sterling Heights Assembly Plant parking lot. Then another materializes. And another. Before long, there are seven — charcoal, tortoise-shell, orange — all eagerly lapping up what Laird has put down. Caring for SHAP’s feral cat colony has become a regular ritual for Laird, clinic director for the nonprofit rescue group All About Animals, and many of the plant’s employees. Now, with the facility’s future uncertain, the cats’ fate is unclear as well. Where the Wild Things Are Beside the cyclone fence dividing the properties, employees have deposited Styrofoam plates of food and fashioned makeshift feeding stations from cardboard boxes. Evidence of feeding — plastic trays licked clean, half milk jugs of water — also is visible on the plant’s east side. “People have been known to go over to the Meijer across the street and buy a chicken and … throw it to them,” said Claudia Valentine, a 20-year SHAP millwright who said the cats’ arrival predated her own. Since concerned Chrysler employees contacted All About Animals in June, suggesting that the company was looking to eradicate the cats, the organization has lobbied Chrysler to permit “trap-neuter-return,” a process through which cats are captured, sterilized and re-released into the colony. All About Animals President Amber Sitko said the agency is willing to donate $10,000 in time and resources toward neutering and vaccinating the cats, aided by grants from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and fundraising efforts. The cats would be “ear tipped” during the surgery, a painless, ASPCA-endorsed practice that easily distinguishes already sterilized animals. Laird said she believes Chrysler officials didn’t realize —or didn’t want to realize — the extent of the problem until they began pulling out thick stands of shrubs, exposing the cats sheltered within. “At that point, they decided they wanted the kitties gone,” she said. “What they don’t realize is, except for mass extermination, there’s really nowhere for feral cats to go.” According to Laird, Chrysler allowed volunteers to take nine kittens and 15 adult cats from the property after the shrubbery’s removal. But representatives balked when they learned the agency wanted to return the adults post-sterilization and repeat the process with others, she said. However, it appears they’ve since reconsidered, at least in the case of already neutered full-grown cats, which Chrysler spokesman Max Gates said would be permitted to return. “Fertile feral cats from the neighborhood have been moving into the SHAP property since the previous cats were gone,” he said. “These cats have the potential to propagate, so we are returning the sterile feral cats to the site in hopes that they will reclaim the territory. In this way, we can limit the future growth in the population of cats.” Chrysler, added Gates, has “been seeking a resolution that addresses the interests of all the involved parties.” While the Sterling Heights Police Department has been assisting, in general, decisions related to dealing with the cat colony lie with Chrysler and the U.S. Postal Service, as the creatures are dwelling on private property, said Animal Control Officer Jeff Randazzo. Laird said the vast field north of the plant would be the ideal location for All About Animals to place shelters and food, luring the cats away from the building and parking lot while allowing them to live in peace. “We really want to work with (Chrysler) and try to help with the situation,” she said. Randazzo hopes everyone involved can agree upon a satisfactory resolution. “When you put emotion into animals,” he said, “it’s one of those things where everybody doesn’t see eye to eye.” Born Free “They’re used to a lot of human activity,” said Laird, “but they’re not used to being touched or interacting with humans.” Further complicating matters: If the colony is removed entirely, a “vacuum effect” would likely occur due to the suitability of the plant property for harboring feral cats, resulting in others moving in to take their place, she said. But because they’re territorial, if neutered cats are returned, they would prevent newcomers from moving in. Colonies typically hover at a number the environment supports, meaning that if half the cats were exterminated, the remainder would likely breed to capacity, said Elizabeth Parowski, communications manager for Alley Cat Allies, a national advocacy organization that provided feral cat information to Chrysler’s plant managers. According to the ASPCA, a single feral female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats over a seven-year span. Laird said studies have shown that even if 70 percent of the colony were sterilized, the group would not grow; if 90 percent were neutered, the pack would be whittled to “virtually nothing” in three to five years. “This is honestly a situation that happens across the country,” said Parowski. “It’s a matter of educating the facility managers and … the public about what feral cats are, what their needs are.” Laird said neutering hundreds of cats would be “very time-consuming and costly,” but “we’re really hoping this can be a model for other parts of Michigan or nationwide.” Sitko agreed: “It’s not even just about these 100 or 200 cats. This is about thousands of cats all over metro Detroit.” At press time, some kittens rescued from outside the plant remained available for adoption. For more information, to volunteer or to offer financial support, call All About Animals at (586) 435-1745. You can reach Staff Writer Cortney Casey at ccasey@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1046.
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