Diary of a Mad Trapper: The First Archie

On a summer evening in '07 David and Marlah went trapping at a colony out in the country. They watched the cats come and go and were pleased to trap two adults and a small kitten, perhaps 9 or 10 weeks old.   David also saw another kitten about the same size, hanging back, probably intimidated by the larger cats.

The next day the cats went to the vet, were spayed/neutered and had their left ears notched to indicate they are altered. I had been away on business but got home in time to go with David to release them back into the colony.

When the traps were opened the two adult cats sped away. David took the trap that contained the kitten out of the van and carried it to the area near the house where food is placed. He held the trap high and looked at the kitten.

"He doesn't look feral" he said.

"He looks like a kitten, Dave" I replied, "But we are not taking kittens in just because they are there. He's very close to being too old to tame and he must have a mamacat here in the colony; he will be fine with her. You know it's a good colony and the cats are well fed and have lots of shelter."

"I don't know." David said "I don't want to let him go. Let's see if I can touch him."

"No. Don't." I protested. Even a small feral kitten can do quite a job on an unwary hand and David has the scars to prove it. He's been to the doctor several times for antibiotics, but he persists in trying to rescue every kitten he sees.

Ignoring me, David lifted the trap high, released the lock and pushed his hand inside.   I expected the kitten to hiss and spit, and probably bite and apply his claws if the hand got too close.   To my astonishment and David's delight, the kitten done none of that. It rubbed against David's hand and started to purr.

We took the kitten home, of course, and named him Archibald which quickly became Archie. When we handled and examined him we realized his claws had been clipped.   This was a bit of a mystery. I spoke to the caregivers but they did not remember seeing any kittens and they certainly had not clipped any claws. I spoke with the people at Maritime who had done the surgeries, but I knew before I asked that they would never have clipped the claws of a feral animal.   The only explanation is that some very cruel person had adopted the kitten, clipped it's claws, then abandoned it in a feral colony full of strange adult cats. His chance of survival was almost nil, so Archie was very lucky that David took a chance on him.

Next evening, Marlah and I went to the colony as spend several hours watching and counting the cats, but we did not see the other kitten.

Archie remained grateful for his rescue and developed a very sweet and loving personality. He was also very pretty with promise of being a handsome cat some day. David found it very hard to offer him for adoption. When an adopter was chosen, he was concerned because she was a young woman and only agreed to part with Archie when the adopter's parents came forward to say they would care for him in the event she was not able to.

Here is photo of the first Archie along with one of the current Archie.