This photo was taken after the meeting where the Hillsborough County Commissioners passed the Be The Way Home initiative plan to reduce the county’s feline euthanasia rates. One of the initiatives was to help non-profits and community members practice TNVR (Trap/Neuter/Vaccinate/Return) of feral cats back to their communities. Pictured, from left, is Laurel Swift, Janie Hadley, Dan Boyle and Flo Vachon. It was a happy day for Feline Folks.
Animal activist’s wish: her memorial service June 12 be a fundraiser for her cause
It’s late at night on a dead end street in a quiet, partially wooded part of town. A car pulls to the end of the road with its lights off and gradually stops. A minute passes. Maybe two. Then, anyone within range hears the car door open.
Then the car pulls quickly away. Left behind is a litter of kittens. Perhaps the mother is with them, perhaps they are already on their own. Sometimes, other free-roaming cats in the area will come out, sniff and welcome them. Others fight and make them go away, frightened and alone.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, there are more than 77 million domestic house cats nationwide. Cats, like dogs, have become a favorite family pet, although it is often said that while “dogs have masters, cats have staff.” That is said because of the self-assured nature of cats.
Wildlife officers say that about 43 million of these domestic cats spend some time outdoors. These cats are descended from the wild cats of Africa and Asia and were domesticated (and often worshiped) by Egyptians about 4,000 years ago. Now, they are very effective in controlling rabbits, squirrels, mice, rats, lizards and snakes.
But there are also between 60 million and 100 million homeless and stray cats nationwide. And then there are ferals that have been left to hunt, feed and care for themselves. Ferals may have been born in the wild, or left there later in their life.
Wildlife officers do not differentiate between ferals and other free-roaming cats that must fend for themselves after being abandoned. They say both groups need to be controlled, and with good reason.
This is where groups of animal lovers come in. Animal lovers like Janie Hadley, who died the last week of May.
“Janie didn’t want any funeral or memorial service,” said her best friend Flo Vachon in an interview June 6. “She was an introvert at heart, a very private person. Yet she was able to go out and get volunteers to work at Feline Folks.”
But Janie knew she was dying, having gone the route of treatments for cancer, and near the end, she changed her mind, Vachon said.
“She told me and her sister-in-law Geri [Hadley] a memorial for her would be a good chance to raise awareness and money for the cause.”
Vachon, a Realtor with Keller Williams based in Apollo Beach and Sun City Center, spends a lot of her free time working with Feline Folks. In fact, it was her friendship with Hadley and the work they did together that originally caused Vachon to move to the Kings Point community of Sun City Center from elsewhere in South County.
“Janie was an introvert in that she let very few into her close circle in private life,” Vachon continued. “But she held big gatherings at her home — potlucks where she often provided the main course. There were Thanksgivings and other holiday dinners. She was an extrovert when it came to bringing in helpers.”
Hadley had acquired a talent for organization during her career with the Ford Motor Company in Michigan, where she worked in Human Resources. Before her administrative help, Feline Folks had mostly operated individually, with everyone doing what they could to help, Vachon said. “Janie set lists and policies in place that we could follow so we all knew just what was needed, where and when.”
Dana Dittmar, the group’s current president, provided more information.
“Janie took over Feline Folks from Norman and Carol Gault, who started the group in 2007,” said Dittmar, who many locals know as the executive director of the Sun City Center Chamber of Commerce. “Janie was always there to lead the charge as a community cat lobbyist and member motivator.
“Even if you did not have the opportunity to meet Janie, please consider joining us for her memorial and informal fundraiser,” Dittmar said. “Janie was always looking for ways to increase donations and earn money for the spaying, neutering and feeding of the cats. To continue her legacy, there will be a silent auction of Janie’s cat art and cat memorabilia.”
It was made clear that Hadley’s wish was that the memorial would focus more on the needs of the cats than on her life. Many art items will be auctioned off to help with costs of feeding, routine shots, medicine and veterinarian bills.
Feline Folks was founded as a nonprofit organization in 2007 to provide direction and assistance to the Sun City Center community that was dealing with a huge free-roaming cat population. Its “trap-neuter-spay-and release” program is the most compassionate method of reducing the population over time, said Vachon. “Once the cats are spayed, neutered, given their shots and a health check, they are returned to their colony, where they are monitored and fed daily by our volunteers.”
Feeding stations are spread around the area because the cats form colonies that act like families and stay in groups. Baby kittens are put into foster homes and domesticated and adopted.
More about Feline Folks may be found by visiting www.felinefolks.us. The website points out that since 2007, this group has spayed or neutered more than 3,859 cats and fostered more than 1,006. Volunteers are always welcome, but donations are needed now to keep the effort moving. There is a place on the website to use a credit card. To mail a donation, address it to Feline Folks, P.O. Box 6294, Sun City Center, FL 33571-6294. For your questions, call Vachon at 813-500-0529.
Those wishing to attend the event will find it Friday, June 12, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Banquet Room of the Kings Point North Clubhouse. People attending do not need a gate pass but are to go through the visitor’s line at the front gate and tell the guards they are attending the memorial.
