Spent a week filming in L.A., which I’d consider “Ground Zero” in the cat-bird wars. Many memorable images spring to mind but can’t get Fix Nation out of my head. Fix Nation is L.A.’s only free spay and neuter clinic for stray, homeless and feral cats. The sun was barely up when we arrived – and already there was a line up of bleary-eyed women waiting for the doors to open. They’d been up all night trapping feral cats. And when the doors opened, what a sight it was to behold! Fix Nation operates as a veritable cat-fixing-factory. The dedicated staff process about 70 cats a day with stunning humanity and efficiency.

Upon first glance this assembly line of anesthetized cats strikes one as oddly humorous. But closer examination tells you there’s nothing funny here. Most of these cats are covered in war wounds. Scars, open sores, weeping eyes, bad cases of mange abound. Life is short and hard for a feral cat. Ask anyone who works in animal welfare in the L.A. area, the very best thing to be done for feral cats is reduce their numbers.

Since inception Fix Nation has spayed and neutered 41,160 cats! Annual budget: $1 million. Cost to the state of California to care for and ultimately euthanize 1 million abandoned animals: $250 million.

This fashion show of clothing modelled exclusively by the hairless Sphynx breed of cats was one of the highlights of our filming at the Meet the Breeds Animal Show in New York City. Have a look. Watch for the full film – Cat Craze – airing on CBC’s Doc Zone fall 2010/winter 2011.

Simultaneously celebrating and sending up all things “cat “in our new CBC Doc Zone film, “Cat Craze” (delivering fall 2010) requires a deft creative touch.

And who better to deliver than Cordell Barker, creator of Canada’s most iconic animated cat film: The Cat Came Back. The Cat Came Back garnered Barker an Oscar nomination in 1988 and remains one of the National Film Board’s all-time hits and is among the most downloaded of the shorts on the NFB’s iPhone application.

Barker’s most recent animated film Runaway blew the critics away at Sundance.

Even after creating The Cat Came Back, Cordell stills considers himself a “cat” person, “having only ever owned, or been owned, by cats.”

Check out the Bountiful Films site later this summer for a sneak preview of Cordell’s latest cat animation.

If you think TV is sexy glamourous work, don’t read any further.

It’s 30 degrees, the hottest September day on record and we have just arrived in 100 Mile House for the first day and night of shooting on our new film, Cat Craze. It’s hard to breathe as the air fills with acrid smoke from freshly re-kindled forest fires. We are here to capture one raging cat fight. 100 Mile House took some serious heat for its decision to euthanize some 100 feral cats which were causing a nuisance and so much more.

“The last thing I want to do is kill an animal, but it’s a huge safety issue,” said Mayor Mitch Campsall. “I can answer to an animal rights group to the fact that we’ve got rid of a few cats. But what I can’t answer to is a mom or a father coming to me saying, ‘You did nothing and now my child is gone because a cougar came in and took it.’ It’s protect the people first.”

400 nasty emails later, the embattled mayor is happy to announce Katie’s Place a Maple Ridge feral cat shelter has stepped in with a “stay of execution,” for 100 Mile’s unwanted cats, promising to spay and neuter all the ferals and find them new shelters on the Lower Mainland.

Trapping and transporting the cats south is a big job – and it calls for a big gun in the world of animal rescue: Pam Halbers of Pawprints Animal Rescue. Pam’s animal rescue “baptism by fire,” was in New Orleans, post Katrina. Pam stocked up her van with over 20 traps and carriers, kitty food and blankets and drove from her home on the Sunshine Coast to 100 Mile House to train 100 Mile’s muncipal workers on how to trap cats. She’s up around the clock, sustaining herself on her “stash” as she calls it, of chocolate bars and Coke.

And so we begin to herd cats. And I mean “we.” Pam’s no fool. After watching the trapping feral cat demonstration, Pam puts the Bountiful Films crew to work. Cameraman Andre Fernandez cuts up donated blankets to line the cages of the newly trapped and terrified cats. Director Maureen Palmer drops a strategic and tantalizing trail of tuna directly into a trap. Sound man Pat Brereton keeps the local Timmy’s franchise in business.

And then we all sit back and wait. How successful was our overnight cat hunt? Stay tuned. We’ll have video up in a few days.

Thanks to the inexhaustible 100 Mile House Municipal workers who stayed up all night to trap cats. They must remain anonymous because the mayor says they all took so much abuse over the cat controversy, he wants them to work in peace. And not to slag Timmy’s but the Chartreuse Moose coffee house gives any Vancouver java hut a run for its money.

Helen Slinger and Maureen Palmer, two admitted “crazy dog ladies” who also have a warm place in their hearts for kitty cats, announce a new commission from CBC Television’s flagship documentary program Doc Zone: “Cat Craze.”

From the time of the Pharaohs human beings have been fascinated with the elusive nature of cats. Millions of us keep cats close to us, and love them because they never seem to let us get too close. We value their independence, their wildness, and we don’t entirely want them tamed.

We like the idea that when the cat goes out at night, he lives an ancient hunter’s life that we have long ago abandoned. Our reluctance to see past the romance to the reality has made Felis Catus one of the planet’s most invasive species. It’s no longer just Tweety Bird who has a problem. Cat Craze is a search for sanity in a cat crazy world, where we will see past the romance to evolve a realistic relationship with cats. Cat Craze airs fall 2010/winter 2011 on CBC’s Doc Zone.

We’re heading up to 100 Mile House to trap feral cats! How successful will we be? Check back here in a few days…