Animal Welfare Professionals

In my dream world trap, neuter, vaccinate and return would always be the "go to" option for community cats.  Do you feel like the general public knows about TNVR?  As experts in this space, how do you connect with folks in your community to let them know about TNR.?

At Community Cats Central in partnership with Neighborhood Cats we offer monthly TNR Certification workshops for the general public as well as folks who are doing this as part of an organization.     #thankstoMaddie we have several scholarships available for one of our workshops.  If you get TNR Certified you can show your local community that you know how to trap cats safely and understand the process etc. 

Please join us in creating change and make TNR Culture in your community.  Please let me know if you would like to be part of our ambassador program.  Also sign up for the Community Cats Podcast Group here on the pet forum where we will be posting more actively there- so don't miss out.  

Thank you all, Stacy

#CommunityCatManagement
#FieldServicesandPublicSafety*

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Stacy LeBaron
Head Cat
The Community Cats Podcast
Warren VT
978-239-2090
------------------------------

What a good question! The general public has no idea how to respond to the free-roaming cats around them. As a whole they do not know anything about trapping and the extras that go with trapping such as timing, caring for the cat before and after TNVR processes and many don't even know about TNVR itself. That doesn't mean they don't care they just don't know where to start once they find free-roaming cats around them. And they do want to know and learn.

The need for public education about free-roaming cats is great! Helping others understand the benefits of the cats as part of the wildlife landscape and how to work through the challenges of their presence. I took your TNVR certification course a few years back and found it very informational. I was doing TNVR on my own as people crossed my path but now volunteer with an organization, Bailey's Human Rescue, that is the only organization fully focused on TNVR is our region. Promoting TNVR and education for the public helps empower our communities and helps humans and free-roaming cats live in harmony. I wish there were more organizations like yours and mine available!

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Heather Livingston
Assistant Director
Bailey's Human Rescue
NC
------------------------------

Hi Stacy,

Great question. In my experience, most people have no idea TNVR exists until they're already frustrated with a colony situation. By then they've called animal control, tried to shoo cats away, or worse. The education gap is real.

We're building Community Cat TNVR into our prevention network here in Central Alabama as part of our Bridge Initiative. Seven counties, mix of urban, suburban, and rural. What we're finding is that the most effective outreach isn't a general awareness campaign. It's reaching people at the moment they have a cat problem.

A few things that are working for us or that we're building toward:

Our Pet Help Desk takes calls from people dealing with community cat situations. When someone calls about "stray cats everywhere," that's a TNVR conversation, not an animal control conversation. Having a single number that routes to the right solution makes a huge difference because most people don't know what to search for if they don't know TNVR is a thing.

We're tying TNVR into our High-Impact Clinics, which are pop-up wellness events in underserved areas. Vaccines, microchips, basic wellness for owned pets, and TNVR scheduling for community cats all in one stop. People who show up for their own pet's vaccines learn about TNVR while they're there. That's way more effective than a flyer.

Our Crisis Radar monitors social media for posts about cat colonies, kitten season overwhelm, and neighborhood complaints about strays. When those posts surface, we can reach out directly with TNVR resources instead of waiting for people to find us.

The biggest barrier we see isn't awareness of the method. It's that people don't know who to call or think it's going to cost them money. Connecting TNVR to a broader resource network where the call gets answered and the cost gets covered changes the whole equation.

I'd be interested in the certification workshop and have taken one of the workshops and am signed up for tomorrow's (3/26/2026). I also had a Zoom meeting with Dr. Geller and she was fantastic and explained a lot of nuances to me! I believe that having certified trappers in our volunteer network would strengthen what we're building.

BJ Adkins Animal-Angels Foundation Central Alabama

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

HI BJ,

     These are great ideas and thank you for all that you do for cats in Alabama.  

Language is so important too- maybe the conversation is more around how to get cats fixed vs TNR, TNVR.  People care about cats but don't want an unsterilized cat in their house... so if we can help get them fixed the cats most likely will have better community support.

At Community Cats Central we are hoping to help with supplying resources to individuals and organizations for when they need them(no or later). 

Hopefully we can build that networking group- there is community cats united out there on facebook. 

Thank you again- I think this a great idea.  

------------------------------
Stacy LeBaron
Head Cat
The Community Cats Podcast
Warren VT
978-239-2090
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2026 08:30 PM
From: Bj Adkins
Subject: Do you think the general public knows how to Trap Cats? If not, how do we get the word out?

Hi Stacy,

Great question. In my experience, most people have no idea TNVR exists until they're already frustrated with a colony situation. By then they've called animal control, tried to shoo cats away, or worse. The education gap is real.

We're building Community Cat TNVR into our prevention network here in Central Alabama as part of our Bridge Initiative. Seven counties, mix of urban, suburban, and rural. What we're finding is that the most effective outreach isn't a general awareness campaign. It's reaching people at the moment they have a cat problem.

A few things that are working for us or that we're building toward:

Our Pet Help Desk takes calls from people dealing with community cat situations. When someone calls about "stray cats everywhere," that's a TNVR conversation, not an animal control conversation. Having a single number that routes to the right solution makes a huge difference because most people don't know what to search for if they don't know TNVR is a thing.

We're tying TNVR into our High-Impact Clinics, which are pop-up wellness events in underserved areas. Vaccines, microchips, basic wellness for owned pets, and TNVR scheduling for community cats all in one stop. People who show up for their own pet's vaccines learn about TNVR while they're there. That's way more effective than a flyer.

Our Crisis Radar monitors social media for posts about cat colonies, kitten season overwhelm, and neighborhood complaints about strays. When those posts surface, we can reach out directly with TNVR resources instead of waiting for people to find us.

The biggest barrier we see isn't awareness of the method. It's that people don't know who to call or think it's going to cost them money. Connecting TNVR to a broader resource network where the call gets answered and the cost gets covered changes the whole equation.

I'd be interested in the certification workshop and have taken one of the workshops and am signed up for tomorrow's (3/26/2026). I also had a Zoom meeting with Dr. Geller and she was fantastic and explained a lot of nuances to me! I believe that having certified trappers in our volunteer network would strengthen what we're building.

BJ Adkins Animal-Angels Foundation Central Alabama

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

Hi Stacy,

That's a great point about language. You're right that most people don't know what TNVR means, but everyone understands "getting a cat fixed." We run into the same thing across all our programs. The moment you use industry terminology, you lose the people who need the help most. Our internal term is Community Cat TNVR, but when we talk to the public it's always about getting cats fixed and keeping them healthy in the neighborhood.

The networking piece is exactly what we're building with the AWRN. Right now, when someone in our seven counties calls about a colony situation, there's no single place to route them. They bounce between animal control, shelters, Facebook groups, and eventually give up. We want one call to our Pet Help Desk to connect them to the right trapper, the right clinic, and the right follow-up, all in one system.

I'll check out Community Cats United on Facebook. And I'd love to stay connected as you build out the resource side at Community Cats Central. What you're doing with certifications and resource supply is the kind of infrastructure that makes local programs like ours work better.

BJ

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2026 11:28 PM
From: Stacy LeBaron
Subject: Do you think the general public knows how to Trap Cats? If not, how do we get the word out?

HI BJ,

     These are great ideas and thank you for all that you do for cats in Alabama.  

Language is so important too- maybe the conversation is more around how to get cats fixed vs TNR, TNVR.  People care about cats but don't want an unsterilized cat in their house... so if we can help get them fixed the cats most likely will have better community support.

At Community Cats Central we are hoping to help with supplying resources to individuals and organizations for when they need them(no or later). 

Hopefully we can build that networking group- there is community cats united out there on facebook. 

Thank you again- I think this a great idea.  

------------------------------
Stacy LeBaron
Head Cat
The Community Cats Podcast
Warren VT
978-239-2090
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2026 08:30 PM
From: Bj Adkins
Subject: Do you think the general public knows how to Trap Cats? If not, how do we get the word out?

Hi Stacy,

Great question. In my experience, most people have no idea TNVR exists until they're already frustrated with a colony situation. By then they've called animal control, tried to shoo cats away, or worse. The education gap is real.

We're building Community Cat TNVR into our prevention network here in Central Alabama as part of our Bridge Initiative. Seven counties, mix of urban, suburban, and rural. What we're finding is that the most effective outreach isn't a general awareness campaign. It's reaching people at the moment they have a cat problem.

A few things that are working for us or that we're building toward:

Our Pet Help Desk takes calls from people dealing with community cat situations. When someone calls about "stray cats everywhere," that's a TNVR conversation, not an animal control conversation. Having a single number that routes to the right solution makes a huge difference because most people don't know what to search for if they don't know TNVR is a thing.

We're tying TNVR into our High-Impact Clinics, which are pop-up wellness events in underserved areas. Vaccines, microchips, basic wellness for owned pets, and TNVR scheduling for community cats all in one stop. People who show up for their own pet's vaccines learn about TNVR while they're there. That's way more effective than a flyer.

Our Crisis Radar monitors social media for posts about cat colonies, kitten season overwhelm, and neighborhood complaints about strays. When those posts surface, we can reach out directly with TNVR resources instead of waiting for people to find us.

The biggest barrier we see isn't awareness of the method. It's that people don't know who to call or think it's going to cost them money. Connecting TNVR to a broader resource network where the call gets answered and the cost gets covered changes the whole equation.

I'd be interested in the certification workshop and have taken one of the workshops and am signed up for tomorrow's (3/26/2026). I also had a Zoom meeting with Dr. Geller and she was fantastic and explained a lot of nuances to me! I believe that having certified trappers in our volunteer network would strengthen what we're building.

BJ Adkins Animal-Angels Foundation Central Alabama

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org