An animal rescue operator is reeling from the after-effects after facing charges from the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
FLEMINGTON -- Linda Wilferth knows by name all the feral cats she's trapped, had checked by a veterinarian and neutered or spayed, then returned back to the wild. "They're my extended family," she said recently. "Why wouldn't I name them?"
For 16 years she's been tending cat colonies around the area. It all started when she stopped by a computer shop on Main Street in the borough. "There were cats all over," Wilferth recalls. "Dead ones. Live ones. Babies. I asked, 'Whose cats are these, can I take one?'"
An elderly man who owned a neighboring property eventually said she could have one so she went to pick one out. "I didn't know what a feral cat was," Wilferth said recently. "I couldn't get near any of them."
Dorene Schultz, who was caring for a feral cat colony at the old Agway warehouse, "laughed at me," Wilferth said. "She told me, 'You need traps.'"
She met Schultz and picked up some traps. Then Wilferth skipped a Fourth of July trip to the shore with friends and instead set out the traps. "I got my first four kittens that weekend," Wilferth said.
Sixteen years later, and Wilferth has trapped, neutered and released hundreds of cats around Agway, on Church Street, apartment complexes, Brown Street, Liberty Village.
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Van Gogh was one of the first she took to get neutered. In a feral colony, to tell cats that have been treated from those who haven't, it's customary to have the tip of an ear snipped off, Wilferth said. Van Gogh, a brown tiger with white paws, ended up with more ear taken off than most.
Her TNR (trap-neuter-release) efforts have produced results. "I was proud one day," Wilferth said. "I went into a restaurant and heard a lady saying, 'I haven't been to Flemington recently, but this place used to be really bad for cats. Now I don't see them anymore.'"
Today, she cares regularly for around 100 cats. That means every day she's checking on them, feeding them, trapping any new cats to have them treated then returned. In winter it means chipping ice out of water bowls, spreading fresh straw around, replacing fresh food that's frozen from the cold. In summer it means battling ants, flies. "The food can get really awful from the overheating," she said.
"But without us, they don't eat that day. You've got to make the commitment. It's not something you do part time."
Around five years ago Wilferth's shelter, Catnip Friends Rescue, started facilitating dog adoptions. "There's huge dog overpopulation in the southern states," she said, and adding dogs to the mix helps to bring attention to the cats that need placement.
An incident with a puppy she adopted out led to difficulties that have Wilferth rethinking her future as an animal shelter provider.
Someone adopted a puppy, paying Catnip Friends $275, Wilferth said. Then a few days after the adoption the puppy was returned, sick.
"We followed our normal protocol for a sick animal," Wilferth said. "The animal is taken to a local vet with whom we have a long-standing and good relationship. We do this for a foster in our care, a feral cat on the streets, or in this rare case, when an animal that has been adopted develops an unforeseen medical issue."
The puppy was alert, she said, drinking on its own, and appeared to have nasal discharge. "We relayed this information to the vet, who promptly prescribed medication based on our reported symptoms," Wilferth said. The next morning, however, the puppy wasn't doing well, and it died before its scheduled appointment with the veterinarian.
"Anyone who rescues puppies sadly knows that they can go downhill fast without warning," Wilferth said. "No other dog adopted that weekend was affected."
A call to the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal's hotline prompted an investigation into the dog's death, and on Nov. 20 the agency filed two counts of animal cruelty against Wilferth for failing to provide necessary care, in this case veterinary care. One charge was criminal, a disorderly person's offense, and the other was civil.
In a court hearing at the end of January, Wilferth says she was overwhelmed. "The whole thing was confusing for me," she said.
Her lawyer advised her to take a plea deal, she said, promising "no liability, no prohibition" from continuing to operate the shelter. "My name will be good?" she asked. She recalls the judge asking the SPCA representatives and her lawyer, "What are we charging her for?" The upshot, she said, was that she took the dog to the veterinarian for treatment, but not quickly enough.
"Did I plead guilty to animal cruelty?" she still asks herself. "I didn't want to do that. ... Can you reopen a plea deal?"
Rather than protecting her name, the civil conviction has had the opposite effect, Wilferth says, shaking her head in dismay. "How one puppy died, after I went to my vet the way I always do, it's ruined my life.
"I'm posted on shame pages. I'm a scammer. I'm on all these horrible sites," Wilferth said. "I've read on Facebook pages that I have a barn with ringworm cats. I don't even have a barn. It's been a hard pill to swallow."
She had been planning a series with the Animal Planet network, but they won't work with her now, she said. "For healing purposes, I'm thinking of writing a fictional book based on my experience," she added.
People tell her to walk away from animal rescue work, but Wilferth is still facilitating some pet adoptions, working with Pet Valu. "They've been supportive through this whole thing," she said. "There are vets out there supporting me, too. The people that truly know me are still working with me."
Her work with feral cats continues as well, but she's not taking on new colonies. The ones she's caring for are getting smaller as the cats die of old age, car accidents or attacks by dogs. "Binky, at 16, is still alive and living on the streets," Wilferth said, noting that the cat was among the first she trapped, had treated and returned.
"There's no quality of life out there for feral cats," Wilferth said. "It's always been my goal to end the suffering. And it's worked."
Sallie Graziano may be reached at sgraziano@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SallieGraziano. Find NJ.com on Facebook.