Each month the Northglen News will nominate a community hero. This month’s hero is uMhlanga's Tracey Hartley.
Tracey Hartley is our community hero for this month.
ON a daily basis, Tracey Hartley feeds more than 100 cats in more than 20 colonies in and around Durban. The uMhlanga resident is part of the Feral Cat Rescue Trust, which is run by a small group of volunteers, passionate about giving feral cats a better quality of life on the streets. The rescue’s primary concern is sterilisation, but to also feed colonies and rescue sick and injured felines. Hartley, runs the organisation along with her colleague, Doug Fairrall and Taryn Cuthbert.
Northglen News recently caught up with the 52-year-old who is this month’s ‘Community Hero’.Inspired by her father, Tony, who also rescued animals, Tracey said she’s always had a passion for helping animals in need.
“My first cat and dog were both rescues and my dad was always helping animals in distress. It was just a natural progression for me. I heard about Feral Cat Rescue through a local vet after seeing a family of stray cats, that’s when I got involved with Doug who was the heart of the rescue. I didn’t want the family to die, so I began feeding, trapping and sterilising them. Soon I began to care for other colonies as well. We then decided to register the trust as an NPO, and change the logo to a cat with a heart,” she said.
Hartley said in many cases, feral cat colonies were a man-made problem as they arise from dumped pets.
“Feral cats are once domestic cats, or the descendants of once domestic cats, and their offspring, who are now living in the wild. Originally they may have been pets who were abandoned by uncaring owners, or who have simply wandered away from home and got lost, often due to not having been neutered. They often tend to form colonies wherever there is shelter and a food supply, farms, industrial estates, abandoned areas of land, rubbish tips, or where animal lovers provide food,” she said.
Tracey Hartley and Taryn Oakley Cuthbert of the Feral Cat Rescue Trust.
One unsterilised female can quickly populate a massive colony. On average, a female cat can birth four to five kittens per litter and can fall pregnant up to five times a year, she added.
“A lot of what we do is down to the dedicated volunteers, Their hearts are not measured in size, but by the depth of the commitment to make a difference in the lives of the colonies and other people around them,” she said.
Knowing Tracey Hartley
Name five words that best describe you: “I would say I’m dedicated, loyal, reliable, honest and passionate.”
What do you think about when you’re alone in your car? “All the problems I have and where I’m going to next .”
What makes you angry? “People that treat animals badly and people who don’t sterilise.”
Name one thing we don’t know about you: “I worked with dolphins, seals and penguins for two and a half years at the old Dolphinarium.”
What is your strongest family memory? “My dad rescuing animals. He was the one that set me on my path and my first cat and dog, Lassie and Damascus, who were both rescues.”
