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A male cat waits patiently in a shelter created by Diana Miles, who has neutered or spayed 2,000 feral cats through her organization.<\/p>\n
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Diana Miles could be considered a modern-day saint in the world of cats. For the past ten years she has been trapping, neutering and releasing feral cats.<\/p>\n
Miles is the founder of Saved by Grace Ferals and Felines, a non-profit organization based in Lexington County.<\/p>\n
Her mission is to spay and neuter every cat she can, to help decrease the estimated 56 million feral cats in the U.S. In approximately Nine years a female feral cat, her mate, and their offspring will have produced over 11 million kittens, making spaying and neutering so crucial.<\/p>\n
Cats will go into heat as early as four months old and continue to reproduce with two litters a year. That\u2019s why spaying and neutering is so important, she said.<\/p>\n
Miles started trapping, neutering and releasing when she saw a hungry cat outside her church ten years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw a cat in the back of my church, and so my first thought was I think we better bring it food,\u201d she said, \u201cBut then I thought I think I need to have it fixed or its gonna start having kittens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miles caught the cat in a carrier then took it down to the Humane Society on Shop Road.<\/p>\n
A representive of the Humane Society told her she was going to need traps for catching feral cats. That led her to Tractor Supply Co., a Midlands farm supply store.<\/p>\n
Her operation has now grown to 30 traps, although she only uses ten at a time because that is how many will fit in her car. <\/p>\n
Experts say trapping, neutering, and releasing is the best way to handle feral cats because it is to stressful for the cats to become socialized for adoption.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t adopt feral cats out so that\u2019s the best way to ensure that they\u2019re not going to procreate, creating a bigger issue in the community with the feral cats,\u201d said Victoria Riles, foster coordinator at the Humane Society.<\/p>\n
Miles has helped 2,000 cats by taking them to be spayed and neutered. She does this with the aid of donations, adoption events and Pawmetto Lifeline, a non-profit animal rescue organization.<\/p>\n
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This feral tabby cat was spayed before being returned to the outdoors. <\/p>\n
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