If you can count on one thing in the world, its likely the fact that you will run into a few stray cats at some point in your lifetime.
But what if the number of strays could be limited and thousands of kitty lives saved in the process?
If it was up to Rick DuCharme, that would be fantastic.
DuCharme, the executive director for First Coast No More Homeless Pets, said the mission of the organization is to eliminate the killing of dogs and cats in the community through free and low-cost spay and neuter programs.
One of the programs offered by First Coast No More Homeless Pets is feral freedom. DuCharme said the program is open for Duval residents and saves approximately 4,000 cats a year.
When people trap feral cats and bring them to Jacksonville Animal Control, if the cat was living outdoors and is doing well it is turned over to First Coast No More Homeless Pets where it is spayed or neutered, gets rabies and FVRCP vaccines, has its ear snipped and is returned to where it lives.
"There is no reason why [stray cats] can’t go back to where they live," said DuCharme. "It keeps other unaltered cats from filling in. Its called the vacuum effect."
DuCharme said the vacuum effect occurs when feral cats are removed from a location and other cats move in to take advantage of the food source available there.
"[Cats] will increase their breeding to fill the hole," he said.
By spaying or neutering the cats and returning them to their habitat, it limits the amount of new breeding.
"[Sterilization] gets rid of most of the nuisance behavior," said DuCharme. "We rarely get the same cats back twice."
First Coast No More Homeless Pets also offers similar services to areas outside of Duval county. Residents from other counties can bring in feral cats and for $30 the cats will be sterilized. Organizations like SAFE pet rescue and the St. Augustine Humane Society bring a truck full of strays once a week, said DuCharme.
"This is a great solution," said DuCharme. "This is probably our most effecitve program at saving lives and its our number one program as far as I’m concerned."
For more information, visit www.fcnmhp.org