I started leaving food for the cats daily and planned to return on February 6, the scheduled day of the cleanup. I went under the bridge on February 6 and met the people in charge of "Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful" and 2 of the 3 HOT Cops (Homeless Outreach Team). I explained about the bowls of cat food, why I was there and my concern for the homeless cats. They shared information about the homeless people that were living under the bridge and explained that the area was being cleaned up and the homeless were being evacuated and encouraged to move on.
The next day I went back under the bridge to feed the cats and saw 2 adult cats and 1kitten sitting on the rocks.Two of the cats I had seen before but it was the first time I had seen the kitten. So now I know that there are at least 4 cats, a Siamese, a gray and white, a black white, and a black kitten.I left food for the cats, went home and decided that it was time to assemble a "cat trapping" team.
Between February 6th and the 18th,some of the homeless people returned to set up their camps. We (the team and I) continued to feed daily. During this time we started to meet and develop relationships with some of the homeless people. We explained to these people our mission to feed and eventually trap the cats. They shared that they had been feeding the cats whatever scraps they could spare. It took awhile to convince them that it was in the best interests of the cats to trap them and move them, as they had become fond of the cats and considered them "their cats".
Mike, one of the first people we met under the bridge slept on a child's mattress under a pile of sleeping bags. His first comment, when we explained our mission was,"you ain't trappin my cats". Soon after that we met Sam and Taz, whose camp was further south along Fountain Creek. They usually arrived under the bridge with Kevin, Lisa, Grover, Brenda and Mary to spend the day with Mike, and drink if any of them had been successful at "applying their sign" (panhandling), the drink of choice was vodka and Cammo beer, or mouthwash when they couldn't get vodka or beer. (one of them told us that mouthwash was easier to steal) We began to bring hamburgers and hot chocolate for the people we had met when we would go leave food for the cats.
On February 18th, their day started and continued with constant drinking,the drink of choice that day was mouthwash. Later that day there was a stabbing under the bridge resulting in one person taken to the hospital, police questioning and an arrest.
We decided it was time to start trapping and get the cats out and relocated to a safe environment. The first cat was trapped on Feb 19, we named him Kevin.
The next two cats trapped on February 22; the black and white, named Mike, and the little kitten, named Lisa. March 2nd, the fourth cat, Brenda was trapped. March 3rd the fifth cat, Mary was trapped. We know of at least one more cat that is still living under the bridge. We continue to leave food and hopefully we'll be trapping that one soon.
"I particularly appreciated the partnership with Barb, who went looking for cats and found people. She has functioned as an informal case manager with a number of folks, forming genuinely caring relationships with people that many consider to be outcasts." Steve Brown
