Home > Out of the Cage! > April 2005 > NYC Feral Cat Council: Mayor's Alliance Launches NYC Feral Cat Initiative

NYC Feral Cat Council

Mayor's Alliance Launches NYC Feral Cat Initiative

For the thousands of feral cats in New York City, Valerie Sicignano's hours spent on the phone each day are making a difference.

On a given day, Valerie, the Feral Cat Coordinator for the NYC Feral Cat Initiative — a new program launched in January by the Mayor's Alliance and administered by Neighborhood Cats, an Alliance Participating Organization (APO) and member of the New York City Feral Cat Council (NYCFCC) — might field 30 phone calls from APOs and the general public looking for information or assistance concerning feral cats. She gives each caller her undivided attention, and provides the answers or follow-up necessary to resolve each situation.

The NYC Feral Cat Initiative was created to provide assistance to individuals and groups who care for the thousands of feral cats who live throughout the city's five boroughs. That assistance often comes in the form of information, such as where to go for training to work with feral cats, where to obtain traps for trap-neuter-return (TNR), or where to find volunteers to help with feeding a feral colony or performing TNR.

Each day Valerie responds to phone calls and e-mails from people who are looking for information, advice, and resources. She asks questions, gathers information from the caller, and determines what actions need to happen. For example, does the caller need to be signed up for a Neighborhood Cats Feral Cats Workshop as a first step? Or does she need to match up the caller with a local feral cat group? Or does she need to dispatch the program's Field Director, Meredith Weiss, or a TNR coach, to spend a day or two working with an individual or group setting up a TNR operation?

One of the key functions of the NYC Feral Cat Initiative is to ensure that individuals and groups who are working to improve the plight of feral cats receive the appropriate training to do the work effectively. The training sessions, provided routinely by Neighborhood Cats, give TNR workers, both experienced and novice, the tools they need to carry out successful TNR programs, feeding programs, and other initiatives.

"I'm really pleased so many people have taken the Neighborhood Cats workshops and now are taking on a project," says Valerie. "As we get the message out more and more, people are stepping up to the plate to help."

While some of the calls Valerie receives are from people asking that "something be done about all those cats in my neighbor's backyard," more and more people are looking to actually be a part of the solution and take an active role in feral colony care and TNR.

Some, in fact, are becoming TNR coaches through the NYC Feral Cat Initiative. People experienced in TNR and who have completed the Neighborhood Cats Workshop are invited to apply to become TNR coaches to help others who are perhaps not as experienced but who want to complete a TNR program in their area. According to Valerie, people who are experienced in TNR seem always willing to share their experience with others. "They are a tremendous resource," she says.

The NYC Feral Cat Initiative also will provide a valuable tool for gathering data on the numbers and locations of feral cats and the people who are caring for them throughout the city. This information will be useful in helping to determine how to make the best use of limited resources in caring for the cats, and also in measuring groups' and individuals' success in managing feral colonies.

If you'd like to get involved in the NYC Feral Cat Initiative in your area, or find out more about the Neighborhood Cats workshops, please visit the NYC Feral Cat Initiative web site at www.nycferalcat.org.