THE DALLES — Wasco County commissioners voted Nov. 5 to pledge $50,000 to the Columbia Gorge Humane Society, offering a short-term lifeline to the region’s only major animal shelter while insisting that the city of The Dalles share the cost, and that a more permanent funding fix be found.

While on an evening ride of Riverfront Trail last Thursday I witnessed the feeding of a half dozen of the many feral cats that live along the Trail east of Kiwanis Pocket Park and Klindt’s Cove. Dry cat food had been scattered in the gravel at a distance from the feeding site to lure 18 of the resident wild raccoons away so the feral cats could eat from plates and piles of dry and moist cat food undisturbed.