Recently a couple of friends and I went to a fund-raiser for our friend Kathy Lynch’s project: Fearless Feral Feeders. The name tells part of the story, but it doesn’t say it all – in addition to feeding feral cats in the Mesa, Arizona, area, Kathy and her doughty volunteers operate a trap-neuter-release program. For those unfamiliar with this idea, trap–neuter–release is a method that attempts to manage populations of feral cats by live-trapping them, having them neutered, ear-tipped for identification, and, if possible, vaccinated, then releasing them back into the outdoors to live their lives as best and as long as they can without procreating and adding to the feral cat problem.

The fund-raiser was a big Bingo game, and it was loads of fun. Held in an enormous VFW hall, we were there with 130 others folks and a dozen or so volunteers.

As you might guess from the above photo, supper was served: pulled pork bbq sandwiches, loads of fresh fruit, several delicious salads and, my downfall, cakes (yes, plural, one in the shape of a cat).

Also included in the ticket price was a little brown bag with 10 bingo game sheets, a pen, three red tickets, a pen, 3 crayons and a drinks chit.

It was a bit complicated for those of us who had not participated in such an event previously. When we arrived we were given the opportunity to buy two kinds of tickets – white raffle tickets for tables with about 30 items on them (I bought 15 of these tickets). Raffle items were things like cat beds, cat food, cat games and many other general interest things, including a few items for dogs that snuck in when the cats were napping. Blue tickets for a 50-50 drawing were also on offer (50% of proceeds to the winner, 50% to Fearless; I bought 0 of these). The red tickets (see brown bag above) were for items on what Kathy called ‘garage sale items.’ Kathy interspersed drawings for the raffle items and the garage sale items between the bingo games; the 50-50 drawing was at the end of the event. In addition there was a table with a silent auction for more exciting items, including round trip air tickets on Southwest to anywhere in the U.S. Last but not least there were several tables of prizes for people who won the actual bingo games. If you understand all that you’ve picked it up quicker than I did the evening of the event.

Not long after we arrived bingo-caller extraordinaire Kathy got the games rolling.

She did a great job calling the numbers and her volunteers did a great job checking sheets and running prizes to winners; my friends and I did a less good job filling out our bingo sheets, though I must say we got better at it as the evening progressed. Kathy was quite funny as she called the numbers, making rhymes and mentioning people she recognized by name.

One of the people she paused to introduce to us all was Sterling Davis, otherwise known to many of the attendees as The Trap King. I’m sad that I’d never heard of him because he has a remarkable calling: he drives all around the country with his three cats in a van educating about and promoting TNR activities. You can see photos of some of his activities here. He clearly has a great time doing what he does, and he does so much good. I’ll be following his adventures from now on (and of course I think you should too).

Back to the game! The above shows the table of an inexperienced but well-organized bingo player – me. The water bottle pretty much says it all.

So, I hear you ask, did you clean up with prizes? Idid! Towards the end I won a bingo, and chose a cat scratching post from the appropriate table. A little later one of the numbers on my red tickets was called, and I chose two adorable leather-covered elephant figures from India (a bank and a candle-holder), so I left the event well-satisfied. My friends did not win anything, but like me they were satisfied with the evening because it was in support of something we all believe in.

Not everyone agrees with us, however. The American Bird Conservancy says this about TNR: “Not only is this systematic abandonment inhumane to the cats, it perpetuates numerous problems such as wildlife predation, transmission of disease, and property destruction.” I understand where they’re coming from – bird-watching is another of my favorite hobbies, and feral cats are a terrible problem for birds. But the cats have already been inhumanely abandoned, if not born to a feral, and if we don’t neuter the adults, the problem will continue to grow exponentially. The unfixed ferals will still be preyed upon and will still be prone to disease. But after TNR they won’t be reproducing. It is nigh on impossible to domesticate a young or adult feral cat, so trap-neuter-rehome is not an option; there’s a better chance of domesticating feral kittens. Every shelter in the country spends a fair amount of time and money doing just that. The average life expectancy for a feral cat, neutered or not, is about 5 years. A queen can have three or four litters a year with up to 5 or 6 kittens a litter. You do the math – even if only half the kittens survive, one queen will increase feral population by a lot.

The best solution would be no feral cats at all. But (to mix metaphors horribly) that horse has left the stable. The problem exists. TNR, while not a complete solution, helps way more than doing nothing.

I shall now leave my soapbox and show you the wonderful items I won at the Bingo fund-raiser:

I know you are consumed with envy, but perhaps there will be a bingo game near you soon, and you, too, can win valuable prizes.