(Irondale, AL) WIAT- Some of the cats at the Alabama Spay Neuter Clinic were once considered feral, but now they could be anyone's pet. They can mellow out over time, but the recently caught feral cats are a completely different story. If you have to deal with them you'd better bring some gloves or better yet a cage with protective dividers.
  It's not because the cats are bad, but because they are scared and want to get away. By the way, some feral cats are born wild, but many are abandoned pets. 
  "Even though you may know the cat, even though it may rub your legs, that doesn't mean that it's sociable. It just knows you as a food source. So we recommend highly to trap the cats that are not completely sociable," said Donald Kendrick. 
Kendrick works with Spay Alabama and says sometimes people feed strays, but don't get them spayed or neutered. That's a big part of the animal overpopulation problem, but taking stray and free roaming cats to the vet can be tricky if not downright dangerous. His organization is helping to make the process simpler by teaching people the proper use of traps and making them available for the purpose of getting animals spayed or neutered. The traps are specially designed to be safe, humane, and effective for feral cats.
"As he reaches in here to get the bait he'll step on the plate and the trap closes and he's caught," said Kendrick. "It's a humane trap and it actually doubles as their home while they're waiting to be fixed and as a place for them to stay for a day or so after the surgery so we're sure they've recovered."
The cats are then released to whoever brought them in and it's much better than the alternative, according to Kendrick. 

  "The more cats we have sterilized, the less offspring there will be so every person can make an impact on the population certainly," said class participant Susan Wilkinson.
 
 The trap and release classes are held Sunday at noon at the Alabama Spay Neuter Clinic in Irondale, but Kendrick says they have two other programs going on in Shelby County.

Every Saturday clinic workers travel to Montevallo and Alabaster for a new spay and neuter program. The surgeries are free for feral cats. They also put microchips in them and give them a free parasite treatment.  Go to http://www.spayalabama.org/ for more information.