At 8 am on Wednesday, November 23, the CARA team, including our two contract vets, Drs Riza Zunio and Melay Pelayo, set out from the Sun Cruises pier in the direction of Corregidor island. We were going to complete the second half of the Spay/Neuter project which was started in May 2011. This project, which aims to neuter all the cats on the island, was kindly initiated and sponsored by Ms Doris Ho, the owner of the tour and ferry operation on the island.
A smaller team of CARA volunteers and catchers had been on the island the day before to catch the unneutered cats and place them in cages. 23 cats were ready for surgery when we arrived. An empty recreation building had been turned into a makeshift holding and recovery area. Luckily, the weather was on our side and the vets were able to conduct the surgery under a large tent outside the recreation house. There was even a nice, cool breeze coming from the sea that day. The vets managed to finish all 23 cats before lunchtime.
After surgery the cats were again placed in their recovery cages. They will need to stay there for 3 days to make sure they recuperate before they are released back out to the area where they were caught.