t seems as if corn isn't the only bumper crop being raised in the region this summer.
According to Karen Kolos, director of the Warren County Humane Society, area animal shelters have experienced an explosion in the cat population, resulting in a tidal wave of felines flooding the agencies.
"We've got a lot of cats here," Kolos said. "A lot of cats. We're being bombarded with cats."
Which might sound like a good thing, if you're a big fan of the little whiskered creatures. But it's bad news if you're running a place required to shelter strays.
"It's cat season," Kolos said. "People are just abandoning kittens on people's porches and all over the place. We have so many nice cats that need homes."
Compounding the situation? The county's Humane Society has been working with Tidioute Borough lately to remove the town's feral cat population.
In addition, the Jamestown, N.Y., Humane Society has been forced to shut its doors to any new incoming stray cats for the next six weeks due to the population explosion.
"People are calling us from Jamestown, desperate," Kolos said. "It's a crisis and it's all over the place."
Kolos said the county's Humane Society is taking in up to a dozen new cats per day. "We took in 24 one day," she said. "It's a crisis."
Stray or feral cats taken to the Humane Society are spaded or neutered and temperment tested before being put out for adoption.
"It's a great place to get a cat," Kolos said of her agency. "People can get them for free in the (news)paper and need to pay to get all that stuff done."
