In 2003, two visionary animal lovers met and created the Feral Cat Consortium
to help feral cats in St. Tammany Parish, on the Northshore across the lake from New Orleans. They had only three traps and no money, but did have a passionate belief
in the new practice of TNR for feral cats. TNR is Trap, Neuter, and Release of cats back into their colonies to live out their lives without constant breeding and the
production of unwanted kittens, half of which die before they are a year old.
Starting with their own money, enrolling a few volunteers, obtaining partial subsidy from the St. Tammany Humane Society (a private organization), and with the cooperation of several local veterinarians,
these dedicated volunteers began to spay and neuter significant numbers of feral and free-roaming cats in St. Tammany Parish. They also rescued some dogs needing help.
FROM DISASTER TO OPPORTUNITY
August, 2005--Hurricane Katrina changed everything, for every individual, business, and charity in Southeast Louisiana. The Director of the FCC and her husband travelled daily to the flooded streets of New Orleans, rescuing more than 400 dogs, cats, and other pets, from roofs, trees, and houses. For more than a year after Hurricane Katrina, FCC volunteers traveled almost daily into the vast deserted areas of New Orleans and surrounding parishs, feeding and trapping the surviving cats and dogs. With emergency grants from national animal welfare organizations, FCC was able to expanded it's operations both geographically and in services offered. More than two years post-Katrina, FCC continues it's expanded operations. (Incomplete)