Still fighting the good fight

Although I post more information about dogs than cats, the problem of dumping cats is still a major one for this area. Several groups conduct TNR on a monthly basis to try and get the population of feral cat colonies under control. They do a good job, but it saddens me to think it is a job which must be continued on a monthly basis. We have an old, orange tom cat hanging around my new place of employment. Someone has been feeding him here, even after receiving strict orders not to feed the ferals who climb over our wall. He is very thin and lays around on my truck in the wee hours watching life go by. Tonight I noticed he had ventured over on the sidewalk, laying just far enough from the residents to view what they were doing but keeping his escape route close. I figured then he was not a true feral because he did not run away when approached. He was wary, but I felt it was due more to having things thrown at him or other animals come at him than fear of humans. He was probably, at one time in his life, someone's pet. They must have decided he was not worth having around and either threw him out, dumped him or simply moved away and left him here. One of our residents decided she would take him with her when she left and as I approached him, I noticed his ear had been clipped and he was missing his dangling parts. This means he had been part of a TNR program which made me feel better. At least he won't be procreating all over the place. Hopefully, all will work out with this big tom and our resident. Otherwise, I may be sneaking a little cat chow under the truck when I come to work each night.