COLONIES of feral and homeless cats which live on the streets of Carlisle are given care and attention from a city animal charity.

Oak Tree Animals' Charity has a program named Trap, Neuter, and Return which is designed to help the animals around the city.

A member of their team recently visited Coomara Vets in Carlisle to drop off two cats to be neutered as part of the scheme. 

The initiative was launched back in 2015 and over the years has helped 1,200 cats and brought hundreds of feral kittens into the charity's care to be socialised and rehomed.

Between September 2020 and September 2021 the charity's community team successfully trapped, neutered, and returned 198 cats. 

The team works regularly throughout the night to carry out the trapping of feral cats in Cumbria. 

A spokesperson from Oak Tree Animals' Charity said: "We 'ear tip' all cats we trap and neuter. This is to avoid any unnecessary trapping in the future.

"Cats are also vaccinated and flea and worm treatment is given where necessary.

"Oak Tree believes that the best place for feral and semi-feral cats is outdoors in an environment they are acclimatised to.

"This way, they can regulate their daily routines and can avoid confinement and involuntary close contact with humans."

Traps are monitored every 3-4 hours during the night and the charity explains that their team works closely with feral cat carers to ensure the welfare of the cats isn't compromised. 

Oak Tree does not charge for their Trap, Neuter, Return service and each cat they help costs £80, so they ask for donations where possible. 

They explain that there are numerous feral cat colonies that they help, and Oak Tree has supported over 40 of these colonies in the county. 

The spokesperson added: "Neutering stalls the population growth, helps it to reduce and reduces the spread of diseases in not only feral but domestic cats too. 

"We do not take in feral cats or feral kittens older than 9 weeks of age into our charity for rehoming. This is because future behaviours are formed between 6-9 weeks of age.

"Once 9 weeks have passed, a feral cat’s welfare will be compromised if placed in an enclosed setting with forced human contact."