Fairground Cats

Fairground Cats

I'm sure many people are interested in how the fairground cats are doing. You can be assured that they are being taken care of and are loved.

The history is, over 10 years ago there was a woman named Shannon who cared for them by herself. She fed more than 200 cats as well as spayed or neutered them without any support. Ten years ago, Tracy was in the area and noticed Shannon feeding the cats and asked what she was doing. From that point, Tracy and her husband Terry started supporting the effort. Some years ago, Shannon left the state and Tracy and Terry cared for the cats alone by driving from Boise to the Garden City fairgrounds every night, in any weather. Carol and Greg had been feeding a colony of ferals at the fairgrounds where the horse stables were for years before they were torn down. They were introduced to Tracy and Terry and then started helping them about 3 years ago, feeding on the  weekends and doing a lot of the trapping, bringing the numbers down to around 60 now. The four of them feed at Zamzows and Westy’s Bowling as well.

When Terry heard that Boise Pro Soccer was signing a 30-year lease and taking over the stadium and much of the racetrack, he flew into action. He talked to the people in charge of the soccer association and the manager of the fairgrounds. He told them about the cats that had lived in the stadium and around the stadium, and how caregivers had managed them for so many years. Terry told them the county had given him and Tracy  access to the grounds because they appreciated the work they did managing the cats, and they needed to continue to have access to the cats.

Terry  understood how a big organization would not consider this important at first, but Terry kept at it. He was respectful but demanding.

The Soccer Association wanted the cats to be gone, which is impossible for so many reasons.

But Terry said he would do his best to trap the current cats and transport them to another location.

Just in the time Tracy and Terry have been trapping the current cats, they were asked to add a litter of 3 kittens, one single hungry kitten and an abandoned domestic cat that showed up in these two weeks!

The decision was to fence in a small area where Terry and Tracy could feed and trap. This meant that the colonies that we're not used to being fed together would have to come to the same small location to eat. Most of the cats lived inside the stadium behind the small enclosure where they were to be fed. After looking at the new arrangement it seemed this might be a better way for trapping if the cats found their way to food because the traps would be set in a small area instead of all over the fairgrounds. It wasn't long before we saw cats from all the colonies gathering at the small enclosure waiting for their nightly feeding.

One big problem was finding a place to temporarily keep the cats once they were trapped. Terry had several ideas, but GCCCP remembered that there was a large catio built for a project that we had completed and was now empty. It also had a wonderful caregiver, Kimber, who not only built the catio but was skilled at tending to the cats.

This turned out to be a perfect solution and as soon as that was arranged, the trapping began. In about 3 weeks 56 cats were trapped and transported! Idaho Humane Society was available to spay\neuter some 15 of the cats on their way to the enclosure. Tracy took 7 kittens home to socialize them before taking them up to be adopted by IHS.

At this point the cats are doing very well in the temporary enclosure. The next step is finding a sanctuary for the fairground cats’ forever home.

Terry wants to find a property in Garden City suitable for a local cat sanctuary, other than his fairground cats. He has offered to raise the funds. I believe this is possible!