What a great seminar! The National Feral Cat Summit was a success from beginning to end. Well, I could have done with a shorter walk from the parking lot to the meeting room (you had to be there and walk the Long Walk to realize how amusing that statement is) but at least I burned up a a few calories carrying my two boxes.
HSUS has a great new video, directed by Bryan Kortis of Neighborhood Cats, that will be available soon. We had a preview. It was rather a Twilight Zone/time warp experience to see trap/neuter/return portrayed in its recent respectability. Rather like seeing the radical flower child in a business suit. Amazing. And very cool. And very inspiring. I signed up for a free copy once it's released, hopefully be the end of the year.
The speakers were exceptional, and of course the networking was one of the most valuable parts. It was a talkative place. People like to think cat folk are traditionally loners. I think it's more likely its hard for them to find a crowd who share their passions. And here were 220 like-minded people. And no one was playing the wallflower.
The only thing I missed was the mewing of bottle babies. Usually someone has had to smuggle some in because they could not leave them behind. But all was quiet in the mew-factor. I hope that means that feral cat care has reached the point where people have a network to help them so they can, in fact, get out of the house.
Speaking of which, Mark, Donna and Tim, Valarie and Craig, Christy and Gordon, Becky and Chris...thanks for caring for the fur balls. I hope everything is OK!
Oh, DRAT! Joanna, I was going to look for you!!! Were you there? Darn it! I'm here in Orlando all through Sunday if you are still here!
My last visit to Orlando was in 1976. Yeah, more than 30 years ago. I distinctly remember the drive out to Disneyworld and Sea World. It was a long drive down a four lane with almost nothing around it but a few hotels.
Every square foot is filled down with neon, restaurants, hotels, attractions. Sea World and Disney are smack in the middle. From the middle of nothing, to the middle of everything. And what it took was 31 years. Scary.
3 comments:
I love your blog. I discovered it over a month ago thanks to Google: feral cats.
I was hoping to bump into you at the conference just to let you know that I really enjoy reading your posts and perspective.
I've been in Orlando since 68, pre-attractions. Yes, the change has been dramatic and our wildlife, landscape and feral cats have borne the brunt of the development.
I think I'm going to make a button that says "I'm a cat blogger, are you?" I was at the Petfinder.com booth, and totally spaced on looking for my blogging friends....
I was at Henderson Animal Control last week (Henderson is a large city right next to Las Vegas), and they had a sign in their lobby saying that they didn't think TNR worked. It was so odd to see. They basically implied that the colonies could be a nuisance and that it's unfair to the cats to be outside and that it's better to euthanize them. I guess that's the policy of the entire city of Henderson, then. It's disturbing.
The convention sounded fascinating, btw. I was at a blogging convention while you were at a feral cat convention. Maybe next year, we can switch!
Post a Comment