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Tuesday, February 9. aoio | The Red a Black
‘No-kill’ yields no
place for feral cats
By SOPHIE LOGHMAN
The Rio & Black
They can be found prowling
around downtown Athens,
exploring the trash bins by
Snelling or scurrying around
North Campus behind several
buildings.
As of July 2009, the Athens
Area Humane Society transi
tioned into a no-kill shelter in
order to prevent euthanizing
savable animals for the conve
nience of space. With this transi
tion came the agreement to not
take in feral cats.
"We just don't take in feral
cats,” Crystal Evens, Executive
Director of Athens Area Humane
Society, said. “We put them
through a temperament test
first. It’s a test the vet tech per
forms to determine if the cat Is
aggressive towards people, if
they know how to play, and if
they’re defensive when people
touch them.”
If a cat fails this test, the
Humane Society deems it a feral
cat. A feral cat, according to
Christina Parr, founder of Cats
on Campus, is “technically a cat
who has at one point originated
from someone’s stray cat. Some
cats are bom feral and some
cats just end up feral. You can
tell when you meet the cat
because it’s going to run away
from you. and if you approach it
it can bite you.”
But some, like Amanda
Rodriguez, owner of Pawtropolis,
believes that the distinction
between a stray cat and a feral
cat can’t be made in just a few
days with one test.
“I don’t think you can make
that distinction right off the
bat,” Rodriguez said. “We really
need a few weeks to make the
distinction because cats can
learn to be sweet and cuddly,
and they can leam to come up
to humans.”
Play revives Restoration theater with all the frills and frosting
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▲ Cast member Jas Sams lias her 17th century
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one of the hurdles of the play’s production.
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But this doesn’t mean that
she doesn’t agree with no-kill
policies. She gives kudos to the
Athens Animal Control and their
efforts to save feral cats.
“That’s fantastic if you go in
that direction,” she said.
“Obviously our dream is for
everyone to go no-kill, but that’s
impossible unless every family
would have seven pets.
Somebody there is doing some
thing right, but it really depends
on how hard the staff works and
how many volunteers you have.”
Parr, who thinks the new
development at the humane
society is going pretty well,
explains the background to the
no-kill policy coming forward.
“The woman who was running
it was kind of being over
whelmed by people bringing in
so many feral cats, and she was
just having to euthanize every
cat," Parr said. “And that obvi
ously isn’t the best option. So, I
think the main reason for her to
want to be a no-kill shelter was
because she didn’t want to be
hurting the cats.”
In her opinion, the no-kill pol
icy of the Athens Humane
Society is doing fairly well.
“Sometimes no-kill shelters
get bogged down, but they seem
to have a high success rate. They
give people alternatives," she
said.
One alternative is to take
these feral cats to the Humane
Society’s spay/neuter center;
where they have a $35 feral cat
package.
“More people are choosing to
spay/neuter the cats instead,
therefore sparing their lives.”
Kelly Bettinger, Coordinator of
Campus Cats, explained.
She personally believes that
there should be multiple options
on how to deal with feral cats.
“We do need a humane place
to take ferals who cannot be
helped in other ways," Bettinger
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▲ The Athens Area Humane Society is no longer able to accept feral cats into its
facility due to a much-needed “no-kill" policy for other domestic animals.
said. “One of the other options is
known as TNR, trap, neuter,
return, where cats are sterilized,
vaccinated, eartipped for id, and
returned to their home territory
and fed daily. A third option
would be a sanctuary for feral
cats, such as Best Friends in
Utah. It is something we are
striving for, but will take far
more funds than we currently
have.”
By taking into account these
options, Athens can slowly move
towards a plan for feral cat man
agement.
By ADAM CARLSON
The Red & Black
The skirts are big, the
cleavage is high and the
ankles are covered. The
Gainesville Theatre
Alliance's “The Beaux
Stratagem” takes vintage
to anew level: all the way
back to the 1700s.
Although “The Beaux
Stratagem” is set in the
18th-century, it’s frill of
something much more
eternal than fashion
trends: drama, drama,
drama.
The play tells the story
of Archer and Aimwell, two
Londoners who hatch a
scheme to find money in
the countryside after going
broke in the city. The pair
ends up in the town of
Litchfield, where they soon
catch the eye of two
wealthy and charming
young women: Dorinda
and Kate.
“Restoration theatre is
known for its elaborate,
decorated language and
elaborate costumes," Gay
Hammond, the show’s
director, said.
Originally written by
George Farquhar in 1707,
“Stratagem” has been
readapted by Ken Ludwig
in a way that retains all of
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BEAUX STRATAGEM
When: Feb. 9-20 at 7:30 p.m.
Matinee performances al 2
p.m. on Sun., Feb. 14 and
Sat., Feb. 20
Where: Brenau s Hosch
Theatre in the Burd Performing
Arts Center in Gainesville
Price: sl6-$lB for adults and
SlO-Sl2 for students at GTA
box office (678-717-3624)
the essential elements, but
in a more accessible pre
sentation.
“The humor of a piece
of dialogue or physical
business hangs on the tim
ing,” Jennifer Powell, who
plays Kate, said. “It's a fine
line we walk.”
Asa Restoration-era
play, “The Beaux
Stratagem” will feature
more than a fair amount of
eye candy.
“Sotne of the ladies look
like they’re walking cup
cakes,” Jeannie Crawford,
the show’s costume
designer, said. “There are
just so many layers.”
The set design is equal
ly intricate, involving
multi-level settings and
moving parts.
“The show has two
main settings, an inn and a
“AAHS made the choice that
they did because a small handful
of people were abusing the sys
tem, and instead of bringing in
only ferals who had no one to
take care of them, they actively
trapped pet cats, stray cats and
feral cats from perfectly safe sit
uations and hauled them off to
be killed because they cannot
tolerate any living cats living
outdoors,” she said. “These
unnecessarily trapped cats were
causing the shelter to have to
euthanize many more cats than
normal, including tame and pet
house interior, quite a
challenge to get both on
one stage,” Larry Cook,
the show’s scenic designer,
said. “We solved the issue
of changing from one to
the other by using revolv
ing platforms. The scenery
is big and pretty impres
sive.”
Maneuvering all of these
different elements, as well
as training the cast in the
difficulties of dressing
themselves in such compli
cated clothing, proved
quite the challenge. The
women had it especially
difficult.
“The ladies had to leam
how to lace up the corsets
to look how they wanted
and not pass out,”
Hammond said.
The petticoats often
proved as awkward as the
corsets, leading to more
than one revealing
moment during the lead
up to the premiere.
“I cannot count the
number of times (my petti
coat] has come off during
rehearsal,” Jas Sams, who
plays Dorinda, said. “One
minute, I will be fighting
off villains, and the next
someone is yelling ‘STOP!
HOLD!’ because [it] has
fallen to the ground and
I’m showing off the corset
animals.”
If a cat is seen on campus,
Bettinger advises to look for the
eartlp that will let you know if it
has been spayed or neutered. It
can be hard to see if the cat is
not too close, so she encourages
people to e-mail her at feralcat
caregiversCayahoo.com.
“Feral cats are unlikely to
allow people to approach them
closely, so don’t stress them out
by trying to get closer, and don’t
attempt to comer pick up or pet
cats that you do not know,” she
said.
and bloomers to the entire
world.”
Problems of adjusting
to the costumes and set
were minor, though, when
compared with how seam
lessly the cast and crew
came together in their
four-week production peri
od. Hammond, Crawford
and Cook had a particular
rapport, having worked
together on previous
shows.
“The cast and crew
were awesome and fabu
lous to work with. When
you are dealing with a
show of this magnitude,
you have to have the abili
ty to work together as a
cohesive unit,” Sams said.
“I couldn’t ask for a better
team to work with.”
When the curtain rises
on “The Beaux
Stratagem,” that energy
will be immediately evi
dent: Crawford designed
the costumes with a focus
on color symbolism, and
New York fight choreogra
pher Mike Chin coordinat
ed the show’s many action
sequences.
“It looks like a frothing
wedding cake of a play,”
Hammond said. “Beautifril
women, dashing men, and
swordfights: what could be
better?”