Neyland was a big, mature matriarch in the herd. She was very independent and she didn’t care for human shenanigans like belly rubs and baby talk. She lived her own life…and she had her own interests. She was loved and respected and valued by every one of us.
When we arrived in Tennessee, Neyland was one of the 54 females we spayed as part of our preventative reproductive healthcare effort. Neyland’s spay was complicated. She had a huge mass inside that meant we had to open her incision larger than we’d like. That impaired healing. She was an older female who struggled with the constraints of hospitalization. That impaired healing as well. She was extremely strong-willed and bitey. She refused to take her meds. Our teams worked very hard to help her, but there were just too many unforeseen problems for her to overcome. After a very valiant attempt to recover, Neyland passed peacefully with her kind and compassionate vet team at the University of Tennessee.
Neyland is survived by her beautiful family in the Feral Neighborhood. We all miss her independent spirit and forever honor her contribution to creating a body of scientific data that will help guide future decisions for her people.
