Jeanine Cohen—the co-founder and co-director of Tampa Cat Crusaders, an all-volunteer cat rescue—recalls the circumstances that propelled her into cat rescue, a story which involves a semi-feral feline near Cohen’s office that had kittens. (That cat, Tramp, now lives with Cohen and her family.) This led to her volunteering for many years with an organization by the name of Cat Call, before peeling off to launch Cat Crusaders with co-founder and co-director Gretchyn Melde. Cohen explains the factors behind the veritable explosion of kitten litters that occurs around June each year. Not coincidentally, she also addresses how Cat Crusaders seeks to find homes for as many of those kittens (and other cats) as possible—through its website, through adoption events, and through a special arrangement at the PetSmart in New Tampa, whereby during just about any hours the store is open, a Cat Crusaders adoption can take place. Cohen outlines the Cat Crusaders’ position on TNVR (Trap Neuter Vaccinate Return), the growing number of TNVRs the organization is doing, and offers her explanation for the reasons below the surface that a small but vocal contingent within the animal community opposes TNVR of feral cats. She also responds to a handful of questions and comments from listeners. (www.tampacatcrusaders.org, www.facebook.com/tampacatcrusaders)
ALSO: We spoke briefly with veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Conrad, founder of The Paw Project and a guest on the show many times over the years, reiterates the hazards of the feline declaw procedure—and the misnomer, given that “declawing” actually involves amputating the last knuckle of each toe. But the main reason for today’s chat was to announce that “The Paw Project”—the acclaimed film Conrad made that starts out as documentary on declaw and widens out to become a political thriller of sorts as a widening number of California cities outlaw the procedure within a legislative deadline—is now streaming on Netflix. (www.pawproject.org, www.pawprojectmovie.com, www.facebook.com/pawproject)
COMEDY CORNER: Marc Maron’s “Cat Guy” (portion) (www.wtfpod.com)
MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” Juliana Hatfield & Frank Smith’s “Kitten,” Damon Albarn’s “Mr. Tembo,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: Bill Haley & The Comets’ “See You Later, Alligator”
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