Beatrice Humane Society Looks to Address Stray Cat Problem in Fairbury

By Gordon HopkinsLast year, the Beatrice Humane Society (BHS) held a record-setting. one day spay and neuter event for the Wymore and Blue Springs area that has proven to be very successful in getting the stray cat problem under control. BHS now hopes to repeat that success in Fairbury.Like Wymore and Blue Springs, Fairbury has a significant stray and feral cat problem.Carlee Fiddes, Executive Director of BHS, addressed the problem at a meeting of the Fairbury City Council Tuesday evening, February 17, 2026, “You guys are actually already a step beyond where I am usually talking to city councils, in that you guys already recognize that you have a cat problem. I actually saw one three-legged hobble across the parking lot as I was parking and coming inside.”Mayor Kelly Davis said, “We got some neighborhoods that are really overrun with them.” TNRThe purpose of the event in Wymore was to reduce the number of kittens born in the wild. BHS considers Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) the most effective, humane method for managing stray and feral cat populations, by trapping, vaccinating, sterilizing and ear-tipping them before returning them to their original location. This practice stabilizes colony sizes, prevents new litters and stops the breeding cycle.TNR helps present the spread of diseases among stray cat populations. Of the cats in Wymore, Fiddes noted, “We actually took blood from all of them to test for FeLV (feline leukemia virus) and FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus), which are two of the infectious cat diseases. They’re oftentimes spread through fighting and mating, and so by spaying and neutering them, we should really cut down on that transmission. They had an incredibly high percentage of cats that were positive for those two diseases.”Fiddes explained, “Does that mean that those diseases are solved? No, the cats that have them still have them. That hasn’t changed a thing, but they’re spayed and neutered. They’re not spreading it.”Fiddes noted it also helps reduce nuisance behaviors, “We start seeing that testosterone decrease within just a few days. It does take, actually, about six weeks for that to completely get out of their system.” Wymore“As an organization, we did 183 spays and neuters in a day. It completely changed the community of Wymore/Blue Springs,” said Fiddes. “I will say that they saw very profound impacts very quickly.”“Within two weeks of surgery, most of the cats that had severe upper respiratory infections,” said Fiddes. “Those cats instantly started improving.” FairburyBHS opened a low-cost spay and neuter clinic in 2023. According to Fiddes, some of the cats being brought into the clinic are from Fairbury and other Jefferson County Communities. She said, “We’ve been working really hard on other small communities, and we’ve stayed very focused in Gage County. But quite frankly, you guys are not that far away. You guys are one of our communities, too, and so I love seeing that you guys are supporting TNR. And also, I’m actually hopeful that, with your guys’ support, we can actually utilize the money that’s already been kind of designated for TNR to actually build something even better for Fairbury and Jefferson County.”City Councilperson Charlie Endorf said, “I appreciate your work and what your heart and desire is to fix these problems. I’m sick and damn tired of all these cats in town. They tear into your garbage.”Fiddes said TNR also helps dramatically reduce nuisance behaviors, “I will tell you about 95 percent of your frustrations are actually almost exclusively due to the fact that they are intact.”“They stop fighting. They stop mating,” said Fiddes. “They need about two-thirds of the food resources that they need to beforehand. So, part of the reason their tearing into your trash is because there’s not enough food for the number of cats that are here. But also, they’re making more right now.” FundingCurrently, Fairbury has $5,000 dedicated for TNR. Fiddes hopes to raise additional funds, “To be able to bring a one day spay neuter clinic directly to the town of Fairbury.”Each cat treated costs approximately $80 to cover surgery, vaccines, microchipping, and basic care. BHS hopes to raise $16,000, including the $5,000 already available, to make a TNR event possible.“Since the Jefferson County Gives program is coming up in April, we have asked to participate as an outside of Fairbury, outside of Jefferson County organization, and they have accepted us. And the goal would be to continue to raise funds towards a large scale spay/neuter day in Fairbury. And so, if you guys were willing to use the money that’s already kind of designated to that, I would ensure that the 100 cats was designated specifically for Fairbury residents so that we can make sure that money is used appropriately for your community, but also continuing to fundraise and opening it up to some of the smaller rural communities that surround Fairbury.The donations directly fund: Surgical supplies and medications, Rabies and FVRCP vaccines, Microchips and registration, Post-operative care and recovery, Transportation and outreach to and from cat areas across Jefferson County, and Volunteer support and coordination.The Jefferson County Gives Day of fundraising will be March 19, 2026. Biddes hopes to make the event happen by April, “I would like to try to do that as soon as April, which is a very, very, very tight turnaround timewise. But if we wait past April, we’re going to be dealing with babies. And that was actually one of the biggest challenges in Wymore, was the fact that there were also 63 kittens that we had to deal with.”The city council took no action at the meeting.

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