An urgent appeal has been made by a charity for homes for cats on farms or at stables.

Cats Protection Anglia Coastal has 14 cats and two kittens, black, black and white, ginger and dark tortoiseshell, which are currently being trapped from a residential location and new release locations are urgently required.

As well as rehoming stray cats and those that owners find themselves unable to care for, the charity runs a trap/neuter/return programme to help control colonies of feral cats. These semi-wild cats generally originate from one stray, homeless female that some kind person feeds but does not think to have neutered.

With lack of food and shelter many of the resultant kittens do not survive but those that do, with no human contact, grow up feral (wild) and unfortunately, if female, at a very young age then also give birth to more kittens.

Generally Cats Protection volunteers will trap these cats, neuter them and release them back in the same location. However sometimes this is not possible.

The 14 cats and two kittens being trapped at the moment will come fairly close to humans providing daily food but will all need to be released as farm or stable cats.

They are all proficient at catching mice and rats as has been witnessed and could possibly become more friendly towards their humans although they are unlikely to ever become indoor lap cats.

If any farmer or stables owner is able to offer food and shelter to two or more of these cats in return for them helping keep rodents away from feed barns please email cpac@gmx.co.uk or call Lorraine on 07973 671275.