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As Slope Street Cats disbands this year, Founder Jesse Oldham will continue her TNR education work through the ASPCA. Photo by Aimee Hartmann Kitty Beat: Report from the Boroughs Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) organizations and volunteers throughout New York City are hard at work every day to improve the quality of life for the city's thousands of stray and outdoor cats, and humanely reduce their numbers through TNR. Read on to learn about some of the work these groups, including the NYC Feral Cat Initiative, have accomplished so far this winter. Brooklyn After five years of helping hundreds of people care for cats, Slope Street Cats (SSC) has disbanded. Its core volunteers needed more time for families and full-time jobs, but many have continued working with other cat-related nonprofit organizations. SSC's programs have been transferred to other organizations, but the information-based website — www.SlopeStreetCats.com — will remain live as a resource for information on how to help feral cats. The community outreach "Love Cats/Hate Cats" TNR comics will continue to be available on the SSC website for you to download for your neighbors or your public outreach tables. SSC's former trap bank will continue to be managed by Elyse Shuk, but it is now a part of the NYC Feral Cat Initiative. The Brooklyn trap bank will be available to the public on Saturday afternoons from 1:00–2:00 p.m. To reserve traps, please e-mail Elyse Shuk at fcitraps_parkslope@yahoo.com. The trap bank is located at U-Haul Storage, 259 6th Street (at 4th Avenue), Park Slope. SSC Founder Jesse Oldham will continue to help schedule and co-instruct the quarterly NYC Feral Cat Initiative-sponsored TNR certification workshops in Brooklyn as a representative of the ASPCA. Jesse will also organize the Winter Feral Cat Shelter Party at the ASPCA. (Details of this event will be posted on the NYC Feral Cat Initiative website as soon as they are available.) A note from SSC Founder Jesse Oldham: In the past five years I have watched people's awareness of feral cats and TNR grow exponentially. All of the SSC volunteers are proud to have been a part of the progressive TNR movement in NYC, and they continue to work with feral cats in many capacities. On a personal note, I just want to say how amazed and proud I am of everyone who volunteered with SSC in the past. When I formed SSC in 2004, I never thought it would reach as far or as high as it did. The extent of its success was due in large part to the work of all of our volunteers and the gracious support from our TNR community mentors at the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals and Neighborhood Cats, as well as the amazing ASPCA Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic Program.
Stella d'Oro, a feral mom from Urban Cat League's Midtown Manhattan TNR project, rests with her kittens, Dolly and Rusty. All three of her kittens have been socialized and are now available for adoption at Pets NYC. Photo by Mike Phillips Bronx The NYCFCI presented a TNR workshop to a packed house at the Van Nest Association on November 16, 2008. The workshop was co-sponsored by Animals Saved by Grace and Bronx Tails, and Teresa Noto and Jamie Lehman of Bronx Tails were the instructors. Bernadette Ferrara and Marie Orlando of Animals Saved by Grace report that the group has TNR'd more than 30 cats. View the group's cats for adoption. Manhattan A new group called Washington Heights Cat Colony has been formed in Washington Heights. The group already is off to an ambitious start, and has TNR'd 50 cats, adopted out 30 cats, and provided ongoing care for the 14 resident cats of their colony. They are in great need of foster homes. If you are interested in fostering a cat or kitten until a permanent home can be found, please e-mail Ola at ola@wahicats.org. The group includes Sherri Laurence, President & Co-founder; Trish Bogle, Treasurer & Co-founder; Chuck Bogle, Esq., Co-founder; Ola Ahmad May, Volunteer Coordinator; Barry Hudson, Web Designer; Mike C. Wirtz, Logo Designer; Alex Corazza, Photographer; and Volunteers Sherri Laurence, Ben May, Ola Ahmad May, Amy Fass, Gail Bottomley, Nada Khodlova, and Alex Corazza. Urban Cat League (UCL) completed a TNR project in Midtown Westside Manhattan during the snowy days of December and January. Twenty-nine cats were trapped, neutered, and evaluated for adoption or returned to the managed colony, which receives shelter and daily care by UCL volunteers. Pets NYC (formerly Metropets), 594 9th Avenue (between 42nd and 43rd Streets), offers cats for adoption from UCL's TNR projects. Store hours are 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 10:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. (Note: Pets NYC does not take in cats or kittens from the public.)
Ashot Karamian designs and builds attractive winter shelters for feral cats. Photo by Mike Phillips
Queens Ashot Karamian, past President of Urban Cat League and designer and builder of feral cat winter shelters, reports that the need for winter shelters always exceeds the supply. He has designed a new shelter this year made from the shell of an air conditioning unit. The outdoor shelter joins his other creations that were designed to blend into their environments, including the camouflaged unit (painted army camouflage colors and patterns of greens and browns) and the metal duct unit (designed to look like an urban building's metal ducts). All three types of shelters were raffled off to attendees at the NYCFCI's Feral Cat Caretaker Boot Camp! in December. Staten Island The NYCFCI held a TNR certification workshop in New Brighton, Staten Island, on February 7. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Staten Island Feral Initiative. Trapper extraordinaire Michelle Christofilakes trapped three 7-week-old kittens in January during a TNR project. One of the female kittens, Olive, was recently adopted at the Bideawee Manhattan shelter at 410 East 38th Street. Her siblings are being further socialized before being placed for adoption into indoor homes.
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