National Geographic: The Secret Life of Cats Page #3

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is concerned about

the wildlife.

You know parks like these

are so important to

migrating birds,

because

when you think about it,

these birds fly from as

far away as the Yucatan.

They come across

the Gulf of Mexico,

and they're tired,

they're hungry.

They land in a small,

confined place like

this to replenish

and they're greeted

by 50 to 100 cats.

It's a recipe for disaster.

Through no fault of their own

these felines have stirred

a fiery debate.

Kate Rhubee is one of many

volunteer feeders

who have taken pity on

these outcasts.

She, too, knows there's

no easy solution.

A lot of people

are really concerned

about the impact that

the homeless

cats have on the small birds

in the area.

In an ideal world,

we wouldn't have

people dumping their pets,

and the cats wouldn't

be outside,

and they wouldn't be

impacting the wildlife.

But in this cycle of

human neglect,

it's not just the wildlife

that's in jeopardy.

These cats are at the mercy

of world-class hurricanes,

aggression within

the colony and disease.

It's really upsetting to me

when someone dumps

their pets here,

'cause this is absolutely

no life for a cat.

In the last

three-and-a-half months,

we've had 39

new cats dumped here.

With so many new arrivals,

the population is exploding.

Spaying and neutering

is critical.

But most of the strays

have become so wild,

it's impossible to

even approach them.

Members of the Cat Network

provide the traps,

the ingenuity-

and the sardines.

Still, there's no guarantee

which cats will venture

into the traps-

if any at all.

Only tomorrow will tell.

Hey, you guys,

we got one already.

The night's bounty

has been good.

Kate? Is this the orange

you were looking for?

Yes, he is.

I'm concerned that

he's really sick,

looks like he's gonna have

AIDS with all of those marks.

Off to the vet you go.

Dr. Ted Sanchez

works with the Cat Network

at a reduced rate caring for

homeless cats.

The rest of the funds come

from volunteers like

Cindy Hewitt

who contribute thousands of

dollars each year.

We're going to be taking a

little blood test

and we're just gonna try to

rule out a couple of

viral diseases

that they commonly get.

It's a male.

And these guys tend to be a

little bit more prevalent

in the males than the females

because they tend to have

more sexual contact.

We're just going to

take a little blood.

Cats are vulnerable to

two lethal viruses.

Feline leukemia

and feline AIDS

are both highly contagious-

and deadly.

It's not a pretty death.

Cindy, I think we may have

a positive here.

You can tell here.

We'll see what the test

comes out.

But you see the gums?

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