As part of their Bronze Award project, members of Parkesburg Junior Girl Scout Troop 415 gathered recently to create shelters for feral cats. The Scouts then donated the shelters to the Parkesburg Area Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program.

The Scouts assembled the boxes during a troop meeting held at Parkesburg Church of the Ascension, the troop's sponsor. "They wanted to do something animal based. We gave them several choices, and this is what they picked," explained Jenn Rice, who is troop co-leader with Sara McElwee. "The troop paid for the materials."

The boxes, meant to be makeshift homes for cats living outdoors, were made of plastic storage bins that were filled with straw. "We found instructions online on how to build them," said Rice. "We used a storage tote with a foam cooler inside for insulation with straw surrounding the foam cooler." She noted that blankets and pillows cannot be placed in the containers because they may freeze during the cold weather.

The girls presented the shelters to April Brade from Parkesburg Area TNR, which formed two years ago as a way to minimize the local stray cat population. Volunteers trap the cats, which are then spayed or neutered and returned to their home environment. Young kittens are put into foster care until they can find permanent homes.

"Sometimes we will trap a kitten that is in the window of opportunity to be socialized and tamed," Brade said. "Twelve weeks tends to be the cutoff (age)."

The cats that are trapped by the organization are also vaccinated and ear tipped for future identification, meaning that the top point of one ear is snipped off during surgery. "It indicates in the field that the cat has been fixed. If we trap one with a clipped ear, we release him," Brade noted.

According to Brade, a feral cat is not socialized and cannot be adopted by a family. These cats cannot survive in an animal shelter, and they cannot be relocated because they would be unable to find food or shelter. "It's better to have a small population of fixed and vaccinated cats that tend to keep outsiders away than to have a large, constantly breeding colony," Brade stated.

Parkesburg Area TNR is currently seeking volunteers to help trap the cats. Drivers are also needed to take the animals to the Brandywine Valley SPCA Animal Health Center in Malvern, where the surgeries are completed.

Brade added that a few of the shelters created by the Scouts are available for anyone who may need one. "If the shelter is in a safe spot and away from traffic, cats will start using it," she said.

For more information about the program, visit http://www.facebook.com/TeamParTNR. Prospective volunteers and those interested in obtaining one of the cat shelters made by the Scouts can contact Brade via the Facebook page.