This notice was posted recently on my neighborhood bulletin board -- To people who feed stray cats: Please also take care of spaying or neutering them. While strays have become a problem recognized by the government, little has been done to eliminate it by the most obvious way: providing an inexpensive spaying/neutering service since few people will pay the usual 30,000 yen to as much as 100,000 yen for an operation for a stray cat. What to do! Even rounding them up and disposing of them, a solution which many strongly oppose, is not effective since cats can now produce three or even four litters a year.

It sometimes happens that when a situation seems incomprehensible to the practical Western mind, someone will step in to do what must be done. And so it is that we have Dr. Renate Herold, who has organized Dobutsutachi no Kai, the Animal's Society, which offers low-cost spaying (10,000 yen) and neutering (5,000 yen) for cats and dogs, pets or strays, in the Kanto area. They urge owners to have their pets treated so that they will not produce the litters that will become the next generation of strays. If necessary, members will transport the animals to the cooperating clinic for an additional fee and will even help catch them if necessary. In addition, there is a reasonably priced preventive medicine service including vaccinations. They also organize spaying/neutering campaigns in other areas of Japan.

It is no surprise that they have pets available for adoption, but only when landlords permit them. These pets are all spayed or neutered and vaccinated before going to their new homes. It is essential to treat both males and females. While it is the female that produces kittens, the males' role cannot be overlooked, and during the process, their loud screeches are a neighborhood nuisance.

There is a continuing need for volunteers to help with the occasional fundraising bazaars, and for drivers and cars/vans to transport the animals. While Herold has found a number of doctors who cooperate with her program, contributions of money are still necessary. Owners usually pay for the service, but there is no one to pick up the bill for feral cats, the street cats that have never known another home and are wild beyond any possibility of taming. As Herold points out, the fewer animals there are, the better care they will have. She's making a start and you can help. Fax (0425) 84-4354 in English, Japanese or German.

There are others who, unrecognized, are similarly involved. A Japanese woman told me that after living in Switzerland for several years, she was appalled to see so many homeless cats when she returned to Japan. Most, she felt, had been deserted by their former owners. Checking the yellow pages and talking to others, she learned that many people were trying to help, usually using their own money to pay for the operations since there are no government subsidies and neighborhood people rarely contribute. They act because they see the need, and because they are aware of the other side. Although it is generally denied, she claims there is still a market for strays to be used in medical testing and for skins to be used in instrument making.

Cat people should know there is a Web site, Neko-Dasuke Network, in both Japanese and English. It tells us 1 million cats die needlessly every year. This group hopes to reduce the number of strays through educational programs, government awareness and spaying/neutering. It also provides a brief cat history. The plague which devastated Europe was in part the result of witch hunts in the 14th century during which many cats were killed -- allowing an exploding population of plague-spreading rats. Cats first came to Japan mainly from Korea where they were valued because they killed rats that often ate Buddhist sutras. Others, and especially the hooked-tail cats so common here, came from Indonesia through Malaysia to Nagasaki on trading ships in the Tokugawa Era. Cats were valued when the plague hit Japan at the end of the last century. When the plague receded, many of the once cherished cats were abandoned. Some of today's strays are perhaps descendents of these suddenly homeless animals.