WHEN settlers introduced cats to Bermuda in the 19th century to help control a burgeoning rat population, they could have had little idea of what they were starting.

In the 21st century, the long-term effects of those actions are still apparent, as thousands of feral cats are still wandering the island.

The Bermuda Feline Assistance Bureau (BFAB) has made it its business to tackle that problem head-on in a humane fashion, avoiding the need for a cull and allowing the island's wild cats to live out healthy natural lives.

Cats are successful breeders and without human intervention the cat population would explode.

The actions of a determined band of animal lovers have transformed what would otherwise have been a dire situation by managing to trap and neuter almost 8,000 cats over the past ten years. Their work continues.

THE odds were stacked against the four kittens from the start. A few days old and abandoned by their mother, they were discovered living in an abandoned building on Court Street.

So riddled with ringworm were they, that many of the staff working to save them at the Endsmeet Animal Hospital contracted the highly contagious fungal disease as well.

It was recommended that the kittens be put down.

BFAB president Lyn Vaughan, who has devoted an enormous proportion of her life to the welfare of cats since she joined the organisation in December 1994, wanted to give the little guys one last chance.

"I thought that if we took them away from the vet's and kept them in a cage in the fresh air, maybe that would help them to clear up the ringworm," said Ms Vaughan.

"After seven weeks, the improvement is amazing. We haven't cleared them yet, but soon we're confident that they'll be ready for adoption."

Endsmeet staff named the kittens Swoop, Dre, Lilkim and Foxxy after rap artists. They still get to see them regularly as the fortunate foursome get taken in for a weekly check-up.

Last week, Ms Vaughan loaded the characters - minus one who escaped her grasp and ran off to explore her garden - into the back of the BFAB van and drove them to see the vet.

In the examination room, vet Neil Burnie turned out the light and shone ultraviolet light onto their fur. Ringworm infection shows up as luminous green. All he could find infected were odd hairs around the ears.

"You should have seen them when they first came in," said Mr. Burnie. "They were virtually bald and you could see great patches of green all over them."

When the disease has cleared up, they'll be ready to go to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to be put up for adoption. Ms Vaughan stressed that BFAB did not offer animals for adoption, the SPCA was the sole agency for that.

Many more kittens would themselves be suffering a similar plight to the Court Street four, were it not for the efforts of Ms Vaughan and her BFAB team, who limit the feral cat population growth with their trapping and spaying programme.

As president of BFAB, Ms Vaughan is dedicated to cats to an almost unbelievable degree. She sandwiches her day job between hours of setting box-shaped wire traps where they are needed, ferrying trapped animals to the vet's for sterilisation and organising the BFAB operation and its fund-raising efforts.

The BFAB team also includes treasurer Monika Rohlmann, secretary Valerie Wallace and vice-president Cathy Bothello, as well as a handful of people who volunteer to go trapping.

There are another 50 or so volunteers who look after the BFAB feeding stations, set up wherever there are colonies of more than ten feral cats. They top up the food and water and monitor the health of the animals.

And there are many others who assist in the fund-raising efforts. It is a huge team effort and it costs money.

"For our vet bills alone, we are looking at about $100,000 a year," said Ms Vaughan. "At busy times, we are spending $12,000 a month.

"We use different vets on the island and we rely very much on their co-operation in fitting us in. And because we are a charitable organisation, they try to give us a reasonable price for neutering."

BFAB's own success in sterilising nearly 8,000 cats over the past ten years has had a noticeable effect in reducing their own workload. "There was a time when we booked the vets for 30 cats a day," said Ms Vaughan. "Now it's more like six to eight cats a day.

"Up until two years ago, there were two cat shelters, one at Ocean View as well as the SPCA. And for years there were dozens of kittens looking for homes. Now the situation has changed and there are dozens of people looking for kittens to adopt. That is a sign that we are succeeding.

"Our objective is to have no cats living in the wild. And we do see a definite decline in the long term. In some places where there used to be colonies of 30 cats, there are now five or less."

In decades past, Bermuda had a substantial number of feral dogs, who were predators to feral cats and thereby kept the feline population down.

In the 1970s, Bermuda's enforcement of new laws brought the feral dog population under control and effectively removed the main predator to cats.

At that time, the SPCA operated a feline "trap-and-destroy" programme, which had little impact on the feral cat population. In the early 1990s, the SPCA became a "no kill" shelter organisation and ceased to have any involvement with feral cats.

A group of people concerned about the problem of feral cats in Bermuda started BFAB (originally known as the Bermuda Feline Aid & Assistance Bureau) in 1992. A major source of feral cats is the un-neutered domestic cat population. And BFAB would like to see legislation introduced to rectify that situation and it believes there would be support among the powers that be.

"We would welcome a law that made neutering of all pet cats compulsory and breeding licences for all owners of cats to be bred," Ms Vaughan said. "Dogs are microchipped and we would like to see a similar scheme brought in for cats, so owners could be traced easily. I do know there are many MPs who own cats and who would support action for the welfare of the cat population."

As well as neutering adult animals, BFAB tries to remove feral kittens from the wild and take them to the SPCA for adoption.

This time of year is a critical one for BFAB. Unsterilised female cats coming into season now need to be trapped and neutered to avoid as many new kittens in April - usually the peak time for new births - as possible. The feline gestation period is just nine weeks and it is possible for them to have several litters in a year. "In one area last week, we trapped four cats who were on heat," said Ms Vaughan. "So in that one area, we have really changed the odds."

To achieve its aims, BFAB relies heavily on the community to pinpoint problem areas. The sound of tom cats howling is the cue to ring them. Ms Vaughan appealed for anyone who had seen feral cats thought to be unsterilised in their area to call the BFAB voice mail on 291-1737 and to leave contact numbers as well as details of the location.

They rely on people who know the cats for information on where and when they feed and what they like to eat. If traps are put out at the time cats are used to getting fed and baited with a food they generally like, then trapping is likely to be succesful. BFAB traps are never placed on people's property without permission.

"When people call us, they should know we have a three-month waiting list, because we still don't have a designated trapper in place," said Ms Vaughan.

"Sometimes it may be possible to respond much more quickly than that. And I would encourage anyone who feels that we have not responded to their request for trapping to recall us. We have had a few problems with our voice mail service.

"We are also conscious that cats are not appreciated by everyone. And we do act quickly when we hear of cats in nature reserves. We had an instance where there was a mother cat at Spittal Pond. We had a trapper who spent three weeks trying to catch it. Eventually we caught it.

"We rehomed it at one of our feeding stations. That is very difficult to do because cats like their own area and will go to great lengths to go back there when they've been moved."

BFAB also get calls about feral cats in distress, particularly those suffering from illnesses such as cancer, feline Aids or feline leukaemia. "When a feral cat tests positive for Aids or leukaemia, we automatically euthanise it," said Ms Vaughan. "If the disease travels through cats it can be devastating, so we need to protect the domestic cat population as well as feral cats.

"Feline Aids works like human Aids. It can make a cat waste away. A cat suffering from the disease may look so emaciated you can't believe it's still alive.

"Cancer is fairly common. We got several calls about a cat at Dockyard who had cancerous tumour that had burst and he was trailing ligaments from his leg.

"I went up there at four in the afternoon, at midnight and at 5 a.m., but he was not co-operative in getting caught. Eventually, someone up there cornered him at the top of the steps at the back of the Clock Tower. I took a carrier up there and he was so weak he just walked into it for the food.

"Another time I got a call about a cat in Somerset who had a burst tumour on its face. It looked awful. There were children in the area and the man who called said he didn't want the children to have to see that.

"It can be very difficult to deal with problems like that, but at least you know you have prevented further suffering."

BFAB has no base. In the main part of its work, cats are trapped, taken to the vet's and neutered, and returned to their territory on the same day, so there is usually no need for a shelter.

And the organisation can count on several volunteers who foster kittens for a few weeks - in their own homes - before they go off to the SPCA for adoption.

Considering her earliest feline recollection, Ms Vaughan's devotion to cats is all the more remarkable.

"One of my earliest memories was at the age of three, bending down to stroke a ginger cat," she said. "The next thing I knew I was coming to in hospital with stitches in my scalp. I was told he had jumped up at my head and had scratched me to get away. Now I have four ginger cats of my own as well as a three-legged tabby and a dark tortoiseshell.

"I've always loved cats. Their fur and their variety of markings are amazing. But I love all animals and nature. I just felt there was a job for me to do in this area. I'm Bermudian, I can drive a van and I'm willing to devote a considerable amount of time for the welfare of feral cats."

BFAB will be holding a tag day to raise funds at Supermart on Front Street tomorrow.

The organisation is looking for assistance, particularly in the Devonshire, Pembroke and Paget areas, and particularly to help with fund-raising and organisation of the BFAB cat show at Number One Shed on March 22. Members meet at 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month. Anyone interested should leave a message on the BFAB voice mail on 291-1737.

BFAB is on the internet as www.bfab.bm and web browsers can email BFAB through the site.