OLDHAM COUNTY, Ky. — For the Oldham County Humane Society, trapping feral cats for their spay and neuter clinic can sometimes become a game of hide and seek, but thanks to a North Oldham 7th grader’s invention, it’s making their job a lot easier. 

That 7th grader is Whitney Weferling. She is also a Girl Scout and has been involved with the organization (Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana) since she was in second grade. Weferling’s Girl Scout vest is filled with badges she has earned over the years, including a special one soon to come.

“This is part of my silver award. You help an organization build something that helps them in some sort of way,” Weferling said.

With a passion for helping animals, Weferling reached out to the Oldham County Humane Society to see how she could help as part of her silver award. After tossing around a few ideas, the humane society gave Weferling the project of building a new drop trap.

“Often cats that are in colonies that the populations are out of control they’re too smart to go into a regular trap and if we can’t get them fixed, we can’t start controlling the populations in those areas,” Jo Jacovino, cat program coordinator with the Oldham County Humane Society said.

After some trial and error, Weferling found the perfect solution to their existing drop traps, adding sand to the PVC pipes.

“If the cat is very agitated, it’ll pop the trap up and get out front under it,” Jacovino said. “With the sand in the pipe it’s still light enough to stand up when you put the stick under it, but when you pull the stick and it drops it’s a little heavier and it’ll stay down longer.”

For Weferling, it’s not all about earning a badge.

“It’s just knowing you did something in your community and knowing that you helped and it’s just a really good feeling,” Weferling said.

A feeling that keeps Weferling helping others, fulfilling the Girl Scout promise. 

The Oldham County Humane Society has not yet used Whitney’s drop trap but expects to use it on an upcoming project to trap feral cats.