Pet Watch Award - Kay Diehm

The Karratha Caravan Park is a more pleasant place to live these days thanks to an initiative started by a long time resident, Kay Diehm. She was getting really frustrated with the increase of feral cats at the caravan park. And then one evening just over a year ago one of these unwanted cats deposited her newborn kitten on Kay’s front doorstep. “Well” she thought, “you can’t do this to me!” So she moved the tiny kitten off her property but continued to watch over the little guy and soon realised that the mother cat was not doing a good job looking after her kitten. So, two things happened. Kay took in the kitten, and then she phoned the Shire to deliver some humane traps for the wild cats. The traps were quite effective and this is when SAFE became involved. “I would take the cats and their litters to be checked out by the vet and by SAFE,” explains Kay, “and if any of the cats were tame enough SAFE would re home them. The mother cats are desexed and often returned to the caravan park to provide a stable feral population while the kittens are adopted into permanent homes.

The project really took off when Rebecca Toney and Alex Reardon began working at the caravan park.  “To date we have captured 39 cats and kittens” Kay proudly announces “and most of them have been saved”.  One of those cats is Mischief, the little kitten that had been left on Kay’s step. He has been desexed of course and is a content, good natured house cat in “foster care” in Kay’s home. “He lives up to his name” she reports “and he is really spoilt, but he is a wonderful cat”! And a very lucky cat thanks to Kay’s actions to improve her community and ensure that these unwanted cats have a better future.


Pet Watch Award - Rebecca Toney and Alex Reardon

Rebecca Toney and Alex Reardon have just been living in Karratha over a year but have already made a positive difference to our community. Alex is the ground keeper and Rebecca works in the office of the Karratha Caravan Park.

It was not long before they realised that there was a problem with feral cats at the park. Alex had contacted the Ranger to obtain some cat traps and about that time Rebecca had met one of the long time residents Kay Diehm who had already obtained traps from the Shire. Together they joined forces intending not only on capturing the cats but attempting to rehabilitate them thus avoiding euthanasia.

They have captured about 40 cats and kittens to date and many of these have been re-homed by SAFE (Saving Animals from Euthanasia). The cats are assessed by the vet and SAFE. Any adult cats that can be re homed are de-sexed. If they have litters when they are captured and the mother cats and kittens are kept in temporary care until permanent homes can be found for the kittens. The mothers are often released back to the caravan park. This solves two problems. Cats tend to be territorial and since these cats are now sterile they provide a stable population without attracting unsterilized cats. Then this stable population can continue to keep down the number of mice and snakes around the park.

In the process Rebecca and Alex have welcomed several kittens into their home while awaiting SAFE to find other placements for them.  Their most recent refuge was found last night, a 3 week old abandoned kitten which they are bottle feeding. Alex reports “the moms are very protective but settle in after about a week. If you get the kittens by 4 weeks they usually are very easy to tame.”

Thanks to Rebecca and Alex, Karratha Caravan Park has a more stable feline population and many cats have found good homes and are now wonderful pets.