Good samaritans take on feral kitties.
Jesse Salazar first spotted the cats two months ago, huddled together in the freezing cold near an abandoned shack at the end of Jorgensen Lane.
There were tons of them-at least that's how it seemed-casting blank, yellow-eyed stares at Salazar, who'd
wandered down from his motorcycle shop a block away.
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"I'd always noticed a few stray cats in the neighborhood," Salazar recalls. "But this was different. There were so many."
Over the next few days, Salazar noticed a few more cats, lying dead around Jorgensen Lane. He believes they were poisoned by people trying to control the rash of feral cats in the area.
Salazar and his wife, Annette, who own two cats of their own, decided to take a more humane approach.
"We went down to PETCO and we told them what was happening," Annette says. "That's when Felines and Friends stepped in."
Alerted to the plight of the Salazars' cats by volunteers working at PETCO, the New Mexico chapter of Felines and Friends, a cat rescue organization, offered to help by lending the Salazars traps to catch the cats and cages to keep them in.
Lured by the distinct smell of tuna fish-sweet to a feline's tiny nose-21 feral cats stepped inside the Salazars' traps within a matter of days. Some were furious. Others seemed terrified. At least one looked pregnant. Still others appeared to be suffering: One cat had a large bite taken out of its flesh by another animal.
"They paid for the cages and offered to help pay to get them fixed," Annette says. "One night we had a few cats in those traps. And the next day it was like we had 17!"
On Jan. 29, with Felines and Friends (316-CAT1) footing the bill ($1,000 so far), the Salazars drove the first group of ferals to the Española Valley Humane Society to get them spayed and neutered.
"We're doing all we can to get these cats taken care of and to get them new homes," Denise London, manager of the Española shelter, says. "It helps when we get entire colonies like this so we can get them all taken care of at one time."
Bobbi Heller, executive director of New Mexico Felines and Friends, estimates there are thousands of feral cats roaming around Santa Fe; the group is currently gathering data in an effort to figure out an exact number.
"With these cats, we're dealing with an entire colony that has been in the Jorgensen Lane neighborhood for at least 10 years," Heller, who sits on the advisory board of the Española shelter, says.
Heller's group, along with the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society, the Española shelter and other organizations, has formed the Companion Animal Alliance to address spay and neuter issues in northern New Mexico. The collective is currently applying for $5 million in grant money from various national organizations.
In the meantime, Salazar and his wife have transformed the back room of their shop, Hot Rod City Customs, into a makeshift animal shelter. Stacks of large cages, compliments of Felines and Friends, and bowls brimming with cat food, sit among chopper paraphernalia. The cats of Jorgensen Lane peer shyly out from their temporary homes, enjoying what must feel like a warm respite from a bitter winter.
"They need homes, even if they're temporary," Salazar says. "No one, no animals, should be living like they were. They can't be left out on the street again."
