Two Nonprofit Organizations from Plumas County saved tens of dozens of cats from a hoarder situation and ferals left behind due to the fires.
Rose Buzzetta founder of Friends of Plumas County Animals, pleads for help from the County Board for much-needed assistance in the county. Due to the Dixie Fires and people losing their homes, many cats were also left homeless. The organization is finding an epidemic of hoarders.
In one case, up to 80 cats were found in one home just east of Quincy. Paws Rescue and Friends of Plumas County Animals visited the home and found the animals were malnourished, had multiple health issues, and were unspayed and neutered. Paws took in 40 of the kittens and cats. Friends of Plumas is used as animal control as Buzzetta has run the local trap neuter and return program to help alleviate some of the overpopulation. The two organizations have also had to take many cats to be fixed in Reno due to a lack of veterinarians in the county.
Animal Control in Plumas County lacks the staff and funding to assist in these situations, leaving citing hoarders or euthanizing the animal the only options available.
Buzzetta has even stretched her help to Graeagle and Greenville areas, as the overpopulation of cats has doubled. The Plea at the board meeting is asking for the county to allow code enforcement to cite owners who have excessive amounts of unfixed cats and to look into asking UC Davis to bring veterinarian help once more as they had during the fires and to practice trap and release by using County Grant Funds.
The organization hopes that with these deterrents in place, the number of overpopulation and homeless cats can decrease.
Photo by Sergey Ovchinnikov on Unsplash
