Feline Advocate Immersed In Cat Rescue—

Improving The Chances Of A Cat’s Nine Lives

By Kendra Bobowick

Karlyn Sturmer’s impulse to assist a cluster of feral kittens in Newtown six years ago has broadened into a sixth sense.

“Give me five minutes anywhere and I can find a stray cat,” she said, even in a place where others don’t necessarily see anything. Today, she refers to herself as an animal rescuer.

“That’s what I do,” she said. Despite her volunteer work that began in past years, she had otherwise avoided animal-related work in her professional life.

“I had always tried to stay away because I knew it would take over my life, and it did,” she said.

Tackling the area’s cat overpopulation has absorbed her time in past years and taken her to the heart of some treacherous places, such as Louisiana to find trapped animals in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath. Her ambition has prompted three trips to Louisiana so far.

Locally, her strides to improve cats’ welfare is also recognized. Last week the American Red Cross of Western Connecticut held a Heroes recognition breakfast where she was honored in the Animal Rescue category.

Referring to Katrina, she said, “I think that’s what caught their attention.”

A Red Cross brochure describes Ms Sturmer as an animal welfare volunteer who has completed disaster relief training.

Based on the brochure information, she traveled to Louisiana, “where she was responsible for saving dozens of…animals…She worked 12-hour shifts building cat shelters, rehydrating suffering cats and dogs, cleaning cages, and tending to injured animals.”

Compelled To Help

Her efforts in the area have developed into a nearly full-time activity, she said.

“Six years ago I was drawn into animal rescue, it just sucks you in,” said Ms Sturmer. With four cats of her own at home, she is admittedly fond of felines, which brings an “emotional issue” to her work. Sharing some stories that tug at her, she recalls an unfortunate scenario.

“I have actually dealt with two cats with peanut butter jars on their heads,” she said. One cat was reduced to about four pounds because of the plastic jar. “They can get their heads in there, but can’t pull them back out.

“What happens often with wildlife is that recyclables that are not rinsed attract animals. They start licking the outside of the jar and start pushing their head in. One cat had a glass jar on its head that it somehow broke, and wore this shard around its neck,” she said.

Stories abound of people who hoard cats. Ms Sturmer has encountered one case in Danbury where the grown children of an older woman with Alzheimer’s had moved her out of her home. More than 75 cats were at the residence and had not been spayed or neutered, she said.

This situation presents “layers” of problems Ms Sturmer said. “Usually you find that most of them have problems, some may be friendly and some timid and some are going to be borderline feral.”

Ms Sturmer initially aimed at helping feral cats, and now hopes to decrease the cat population with long-lasting solutions.

Stray cats were not always treated kindly, but were killed, she said.

During her first encounter six years earlier with the kittens, she had opted for “a more humane way to deal with feral cats.” She said, “I was well aware that rather than round them up at the site and kill them,” she would trap neuter and return (TNR) them again.

In an article written by Ms Sturmer and published in the Danbury Animal Welfare Society newsletter, she stated, “Without an aggressive TNR program, no animal welfare organization can make the claim that it is caring for its community’s homeless animals or making a dent in cat overpopulation.” TNR is a means to trap, alter, and vaccinate cats and then return them to their original sites, she wrote.

Explaining further the reasoning behind TNR, she said, “If you have a site that attracts cats, like a food source, more cats will come that won’t be spayed or neutered and the problem comes back. With all the dumpsters and garbage cans the cats are constantly reproducing and the problem is perpetuated.”

Unfortunately, public education must follow her initial trapping.

“The root of the problem is that people don’t spay and neuter,” she said. As the kitty population grows, “Cats are dumped into the woods and a few generations later you have a family of feral cats.”

A statewide initiative is now a bill before the General Assembly, she said, “To at least provide funds to cat rescuers to spay or neuter cats.” Currently Ms Sturmer said she depends greatly on the Spay Neuter Association of Newtown.

Despite her drive to assist animals — cats and kittens in particular — she said she is trying to “move on” from her volunteer work, and is now finishing projects she started at least a year ago in an attempt to wind down her rescue crusade.