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Willard & The Village Babies
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The colony Willard and the Village Babies lived in started being formally managed in June 2002. One day when working outside the back of their warehouse, the soon-to-be caretakers noticed several cats hanging out in the woods. Upon doing some looking, around thirty cats were discovered living together in a wooded area that bordered a commercial and residential area. After speaking to employees of the businesses near where the cats were seen, the caretakers learned that initially a couple cats that were not spayed or neutered were dumped in the spot when residents of a nearby apartment complex moved out. The caretakers, who are volunteers of Cat Welfare, decided something needed to be done to make sure the cats were spayed and neutered, that shelter and food was provided for them, and that the kittens were caught right away so they could be fostered, tamed, and adopted.
The little village in the pictures above was built using guidelines from Alley Cat Allies. Humane traps were purchased and several rounds of trapping the cats began.
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Georgia (above left), Blue (above right), and Callie (photo not available) were determined to be the mothers of most of the cats and kittens in the colony. While Callie was still somewhat tame, Georgia and Blue did not want much contact with humans and it was determined that most likely they were Callie's daughters. Callie and most of the male cats were part of the first wave of trappings. Cat Welfare was able to provide some assistance for the spaying & neutering of the cats through their Altering Fund. However, at the time, there were not many vets locally that would work with feral cats so the help they could initially provide was limited. Luckily, today Cat Welfare has an established group of vets that will spay and neuter feral cats for them. Georgia and Blue were the last two females to be trapped and spayed. Several of their kittens were fostered by Cat Welfare foster home volunteers and happily all were tamed and placed into loving, happy homes.
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Amber (above left) was the most reclusive of the cats. Goldie (above right) was the "little dictator" who had a bit of a temper with her feline family. She was the only one that would be seen wandering well beyond the little village and was the first to chase off any cats that came across the colony. Amber's unique colors helped her to blend well into her surroundings. Upon being neutered, all the male cats wandered off to other locations not to be seen again. The colony was officially all ladies (Georgia, Amber, Blue, and Goldie) until the summer of 2004. That is when Willard appeared and would not let Goldie chase him off. He wanted to live in the village and he stood his ground until finally the girls accepted him. It appeared as Willard had either been the pet of someone that did not give him much attention or socializing or he was a stray that people had been feeding over time. The caretakers came to this conclusion due to the fact that he was interested in them and would hang around more than the others but was not one to be cuddled or picked up. After working some with Willard, he was caught and taken to Cat Welfare where he was neutered and worked with by the staff and volunteers to see if he could be put up for adoption. After several incidents with nipping, it was determined that Willard would need to be re-released into the colony in early 2005. From that point on, Willard became an official village babies resident.
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Over the years, Willard came to trust his caretakers more and more. All the cats got used to the feeding schedule and would come to the feeding station around the time they knew their caretakers would be out to feed them. They would always keep a distance but they came to know the voices of their caretakers and would not stay so far away while their food and water was being prepared for them. Willard took on the official role of "security guard" and made it his official task to keep any other cats from moving into the village. Over the years, there were several male cats that tried to move in. Being that those cats were obviously pets that someone had dumped, the caretakers were able to easily pick them up and take them to Cat Welfare where happily all were adopted out. Each kitty living in the village had a specific house and feline friend that they would sleep with at night. In the harsh winters, sometimes Willard was allowed in one of the wood houses with two of the girls. Most of the time he slept in his special dog house.
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For several years, the cats lived in peace and were healthy and happy in their village. In 2007, Willard started becoming more social with his caretakers and would let them pet him and sometimes he would rub up against their legs. However, if there were other people with them he would keep a bit of a distance. In November 2007, Amber suddenly was blind. For several days she stayed near the houses and the others stayed close to her, but then she disappeared. That winter, Willard took Amber's spot in one of the houses with Georgia and used his dog house as his day time security station and nap spot. In 2008, Georgia became a little more trusting of her caretakers and would let each of them pet her head for a couple seconds before moving away. She enjoyed rolling in the grass when her caretakers were approaching and would meow a hello to them. Willard was also becoming more social with his caretakers even letting his primary caretaker hold him at times. At times he would even sit on her lap and let her pet him (see above left photo) as long as she sat in a spot where he could jump down and run away to the village easily. Even though he showed some trust with her, if anyone else remotely approached him while he was on her lap he would jump down and run off. Willard would always stand watch over the village and when it came close to feeding time he would always be on the look-out for the caretakers. If they would be moving too slow for him, he would encourage them along with some chatty meowing. After braving through the extreme cold and snow of early 2009, Georgia appeared to not be able to get over a cold. At one point, she appeared so weak that her caretakers knew they would have to trap her and get her medical attention. The next day when they went out to check on her she approached them and let them pick her up. That was the first time she had ever allowed them to pick her up or hold her. Her caretakers knew it was time and her feline friends gathered near the feeding station as she was carried away to be euthanized at the vet's office. The morning of March 2, 2009 Goldie was seen doing her normal morning exploring in the woods. Later that morning, the local FedEx driver alerted the caretakers that she had seen two boys back in the area of the village with pellet guns. After searching the surrounding area many times over several months, Goldie was never seen again. That left Willard and Blue. The two started sleeping in a house together and they seemed to be making the best of being without their friends. On April 14, 2009 Blue and Willard enjoyed a special treat that their caretakers had brought for them and then relaxed on top of their houses enjoying the nice spring weather. The next day, one of their caretakers discovered that someone had moved the two wooden cat houses so they were right up against each other so the entrances were blocked. As about once a year boys from the neighboring apartment complex would take a roof off a house to use as a skateboard ramp, the caretakers figured it was just a case of kids pulling a prank over their spring break. However, Willard was nowhere in sight and he had never missed a feeding time in all those years. Blue was only spotted after food and water had been placed out for them and she immediately ran off when her caretakers returned to check on her and look for Willard again. Tragically, Willard was found up the little hill from the village. He had been killed. After a week of trying to trap Blue, she finally was trapped and is now in the care of her caretakers. They are trying to socialize her and get her to where she can live happily indoors. While she is still scared, she enjoys sleeping in the hammock (see above right photo) in her cage. She will not let her caretakers touch her yet and they are sure she misses her friends and wandering the wooded area she called home for so many years. While the village babies caretakers will always wonder what happened in the spring of 2009 after all those peaceful years, they are honored to have known the village babies and to have provided them with a stable and happy existence for so many years.
If you would like to donate to the Willard's Village Babies Fund via mail, then click here. To donate online, click here. If you have questions about the fund, then email catwelfarecats@yahoo.com.
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Special thanks to Sue Victor for creating these beautiful paintings of Willard and the Village Babies. Thanks also to Cappy Victor and murrrbeast.com for being special friends to Willard and the Village Babies. If you would like a special painting made of your furry friend(s), then please visit their website at www.murrrbeast.com.
