Tracy Cat Rescue

I was excited and happy to come across Tracy Cat Rescue. Finally an organization that concentrated its focus on feral cats in the community of Tracy… so I thought. Here is a portion of their Mission Statement:
We promote community awareness of the need to spay/​neuter pets, as well as working to re-​home friendly strays, abandoned cats and removing kittens from feral colonies and placing them into forever homes. We implement Trap-​Neuter-​Return (TNR) programs and educate the community on the benefits of TNR.
The past year I have been feeding a feral cat colony and up to a couple months ago I was doing TNR. Which meant, trapping feral cats, taking them to the vet to be spayed/​neutered and then bringing them home to recover until releasing them back to their colony? My girlfriend and I were helping a woman named Kim Gray, who furnished us cat traps. Vets require cat traps to transport feral cats to the vets to either get spayed or neutered. We have since returned the cat traps to Kim Gray.
Last week I can across this new organization ‘Tracy Cat Rescue’ in hopes that I could borrow a cat trap for 24 hours or so in order to transport a pregnant feral cat (Smiley) I was able to trap in a conventional animal carrier. I contacted a David Coursey who is the Vice President of Tracy Cat Rescue. He initially told us we could not borrow a cat trap which I thought was awfully strange since this new organization proclaims their mission is to protect the welfare of community cats. I had a number of conversations with David and it seemed the stumbling block in obtaining a cat trap was the President of ‘Tracy Cat Rescue’ Kim Gray. Interestingly when she wanted my help in trapping feral cats a few months back she was more than willing to let me use her cat traps. I was able to spay/​neuter approximately 10 feral cats during that time. Anyway, the need to get this feral cat (Smiley) spayed was critical. I made arrangements with the Tracy animal shelter to obtain a cat trap for a $ 60 refundable deposit as well as made an appointment with a local vet to get Smiley spayed. The day before Smiley was to get spayed David Coursey out of the blue made this surprising offer. He said he would furnish a cat trap, get Smiley spayed and transport Smiley to the vet in return he wanted a $ 50 donation to help fund ‘Tracy Cat Rescue’ desire to become a non-​profit organization. I agreed to his offer with the understanding Smiley would be spayed after the weekend on Monday. In fact, during my lengthy conversation on the phone with Mr. Coursey he assured me he would contact me Sunday afternoon to make plans on picking up Smiley on either Sunday evening or early Monday morning. This organization made no attempt to contact me at all or explain why they totally flaked. It was back to my initial plan, get a cat trap from animal shelter and make yet another appointment for Smiley. Unfortunately the animal shelter is closed on Mondays and has fate would have it; Smiley had her kittens on Tuesday. When Mr. Coursey was informed of the kittens his initial response was ‘Aren’t Kittens Wonderful’. So now my girlfriend and I have kittens that need to be cared for thanks to ‘Tracy Cat Rescue’. Why this organization played this cruel game is beyond my comprehension. Their actions in this regard in no shape or form demonstrate that they are sincerely committed advocates for the feral cat colonies in Tracy. I caution everyone who might be thinking about donating to their so called non-​profit fund. Placing any trust in this organization is definitely at your own risk. You might find yourself being played like we were played.
I didn’t ask this organization to pay for the spay nor did I ask this organization to transport Smiley to the vet or care for Smiley during her recovery time. My only request was to borrow a cat trap that is required to transport a feral cat to the vet. It’s been my girlfriend’s and my desire all along to help in TNR efforts here in Tracy. For «Tracy Cat Rescue’ to initially say ‘no’ (which is mind boggling in itself) and then to say yes if I was willing to donate to their non-​profit fund and then to just disappear I find very unprofessional and very unethical. What Kim’s and David’s agenda was from the very beginning I most likely will never know. Hopefully one day there will be a sincere Cat Rescue organization in Tracy