QUINCY, ILL. -- Here's an update on those six kittens found at Sam's Club in Quincy last Friday.
You might recall a mama cat made her way into the store and gave birth to them on Christmas Day.
Workers found the kittens but not the mama cat the day after that.
KHQA's Rajah Maples talked with the city's animal control Tuesday afternoon.
Deputy Chief Ron Dreyer told her the city has placed three traps in Sam's Club, trying to entice the cat so that she can be reunited with her six kittens.
In the meantime, the Quincy Humane Society is caring for the litter, keeping them extra warm and bottle feeding them.
Dreyer said, "We haven't had any success yet. There's obviously some complicated issues with trying to capture an animal in that large of an environment. Plus, there are other food areas around so to entice a cat in a trap in that environment may not....we're not real confident how well that will work, but we're continuing to try."
Dreyer told KHQA stray cats are a real problem in the City of Quincy.
As of last month, the city's animal control has captured 500 cats so far this year.
Most of them are euthanized.
Dreyer said, "Very infrequently are we able to have those adopted. There's just not a demand for that number of that number of cats. It's unfortunate, but I know the Humane Society and we encourage everyone if you have a pet, spay and neutering is the best alternative, because when these animals are captured, particularly if they're wild, feral cats, they're not very adoptable."
As for the types of cases, Dreyer says the city usually responds to domesticated-type situations, such as cats or dogs running around loose.
At times, the city's animal control has responded to a bat or raccoon getting into a residence. But if it's an infestation or a case of another type of wild animal, the city often refers them to a private service that handles those types of calls.