ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FERRUM
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICERS have their work cut out for them - searching for rabid cats in feline-friendly Ferrum.
When a raccoon wandered into this quiet Franklin County community in the middle of the day last week and started acting strangely, residents knew something was wrong.
So a man grabbed his rifle and shot it.
Turns out the raccoon was rabid, making it the fourth confirmed case of rabies in the county this year.
Marvin Woods, a county animal control officer, says this year's rabies outbreak is the worst he's had to deal with in his 10 years working for the county.
To make the most recent situation worse, a cat disappeared into the Ferrum wilderness after it fought with the raccoon.
Animal control officers - carrying quarantine orders for pets - soon found out that it wasn't going to be easy to find the cat and identify it.
Ferrum, they found out, is a stray-cat haven.
One woman, Keiko "Kay" Young, was feeding 40 to 50 cats.
Another family just up the road was feeding close to 30.
The county's animal control officers, Woods and Steve Lynch, have spent the past week trapping more than 60 free-roaming cats and dogs. They've had to shoot several cats that could not be confined.
According to the county Health Department quarantine order, animal control officers "will utilize any appropriate and lawful means" to minimize the risk of rabies - a potentially life-threatening disease.
Woods and Lynch know their jobs can be tricky. Not only do they have to try to corral animals that could be diseased, but they also have to deal with a public that's not always accommodating.
Woods was told to leave a place of business last week when he told the owner about the quarantine order.
But not everyone makes their job difficult.
Thursday, a man walked up to Woods and Lynch and looked inside a couple of cages on the back of a county truck.
"Are those cats?" he asked.
"Sure are," Woods replied.
"Shoot 'em," the man said.
Kay Young, who runs a beauty shop in Ferrum, won't be shooting cats - or any other animal - any time soon.
The herd of cats that ate and sometimes hung out around her beauty shop were like members of her family, she said. She kept doghouses for them to stay in, and she put out plenty of cat food.
Young said it breaks her heart to think about the fate of the cats - "Joe" and "Smokey" to name two - but she knows the public's welfare must take priority.
Ironically, it was Young's willingness to help the public that created her problem.
She started with one cat.
It was run over by a car; she felt sorry for it and took it home.
The cat later had kittens.
In winter, Young put a kerosene heater in her garage and kept a small hole open so cats could go in and out.
Soon, other people learned of Young's soft heart and from time to time would drop cats off in front of her shop.
Several left notes to Young.
One begins:
"Dear Nice Lady, please take care of these two kittens. My mom found them in the road. We cannot find their mother. We know you have lots of kittens and cats. The reason why we brought them to you was because we know you will take care of them....''
Young says she thought about calling animal control but decided to keep feeding the cats because she felt sorry for them.
Young is a kind soul, who - along with her cats - has become an innocent victim of the rabid raccoon, said a friend who asked that her name not be used.
The woman once saw Young run outside her beauty shop, grab a turtle out of the road, and then place it down near a creek so it wouldn't get squashed by a car.
"I get real upset when I think about the cats," Young said Thursday, adding that she hasn't eaten or slept much since last week.
Outside the beauty shop, as Young talked inside, a black cat snacked on some food and then lay down under the back tire of Young's car to take a nap.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Equipped with a quarantine order fromby CNBthe Health Department, Franklin County animal control officers
Marvin Woods (left) and Steve Lynch pick up two cats they caught in
traps Thursday in the Ferrum area. color.