Kitten season in Hopewell: How local humane society is preventing rabies cases

HOPEWELL, Va. (WRIC) -- After a cat with rabies infected at least one person in Hopewell last month, a local humane society is stepping up to vaccinate the feral cat community.

8News' Mariah Jallad spoke to the woman bitten by the rabid cat earlier this month. That case inspired the Hopewell Humane Society to take action and launch a new vaccination program, just in time for kitten season.

"We as a team came together and decided Hopewell needs someone to step up," said September Owens, Operations Manager at Hopewell Humane Society, who launched TNVR.

The TNVR program stands for trap, neuter, vaccinate and release. Wherever there are feral cats in the community, the humane society team can be there to safely capture them, get them spayed or neutered and vaccinate them against deadly diseases like rabies.

"This process really involved the community reaching out to us and us getting their information," Owens said. "Where are you seeing these cats? Are you noticing any cats that be hurt, injured?"

A key component of TNVR that sets it apart from other spay and neuter programs is the vaccinations. Owens said after seeing that a cat with rabies in Hopewell had infected at least one other person, she had to take action.

"Vaccinating is how we prevent that," Owens said.

The launch of the program also coincides with 'kitten season.'

"This time of year, we typically call it kitten season," Owens said. "As we're coming out of the colder months into the warmer months, springtime, we see an influx of pregnant mommas and kitten litters."

TNVR allows staff to find pregnant cats and make sure they give birth in a safe environment. Then, the litter is vaccinated, so even if they do come into contact with a rabid animal, they won't be infected with rabies. They're also neutered, decreasing the feral cat population in the long run.

"We're just hoping that the efforts that we're putting forward now are going to- obviously they can't help us currently because our kitten season is already well underway- but we're hoping that next kitten season we won't have so much of a strain on the local rescues and animal shelters with an influx of kittens and pregnant mommas," Owens said.

You can learn more about the Hopewell Humane Society on their website.