To the editor:
As the director of Operations for the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society (MRFRS) in Salisbury, I read with interest Bonnie Foreman's recent letter to the editor regarding the sad ending of the stray cat in her Newburyport neighborhood, and it seemed like a good opportunity to let our neighbors in the greater Newburyport and Salisbury area know what they should do in the event that they encounter a cat who needs help and what services we can offer.
MRFRS offers assistance to cats in the local area through our adoption center in Salisbury. We can lend humane traps and show you how to use them. Our trap arsenal is not limited to box traps — for difficult-to-nab cats, we have other types of traps available, as well. If the cat you're trying to help is a tough one, don't give up! Keep asking us for ideas and advice — we'll help you get that kitty eventually! We've been trapping cats for close to 20 years now, and haven't met many untrappable kitties.
If it's an emergency situation, we'll do everything we can, including coming to your house if needed. We are a volunteer-based organization with a small paid staff, and we handle more than 6,500 cats a year among our many programs — but we will do the best we can to help, especially if kitty is sick or injured.
We truly appreciate folks like Bonnie who are willing to become advocates for those who have no voice, and we hope that her story will inspire others both to spay and neuter their animals (perhaps through some of our low-cost options), to be responsible pet owners, and if they see a cat in need of help, to pick up the phone and be persistent in looking for that help.
As a small, grassroots organization, the citizens of our community are our partners in helping to care for cats in need. We can't do it all ourselves; we need your help, whether it's through donations to our already depleted fiscal year 2012 medical care budget, through refusing to give up in finding timely help for a sick or injured stray, through spreading the word about our Catmobile, adoption and feral spay/neuter programs, or through attending one of our many fundraising events.
We couldn't continue to do what we do without this community, and we thank you for your continued support and assistance. Hope to see you all at our Strut for Strays event on May 20. Please visit www.mrfrs.org for more information or to donate today!
Liz Pease
Director of Operations
Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society
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