Animal Welfare Professionals

My shelter has a lot of property (wooded with dog walking trails) around our building and has had an ongoing situation with an outdoor cat colony growing and being fed on the far edge of our property (not visible from our building or parking lot). We have TNR'ed (had all the cats altered) there over the past two years, but it continues to be a messy eyesore where 2-5 people come every day to feed the cats and leave poorly made housing, plates, wet food tins, etc. We get A LOT of calls about the Cats On The Corner because it's highly visible from the road. 

We have made a decision to embrace our little colony and try to turn it into an education opportunity.  We are getting some nice sturdy well-made cat houses donated. We are going to build a feeding station. We are going to work on moving all those items farther away from the road onto our property (but where the feeders can see it when they pull up in the grass). We also want to add signs to (1) explain that the colony is managed, (2) provide tips for caring for outdoor cats, and (3)share information on our TNR program. 

I would love to hear from anyone who has tried something like this and has any "pro tips" for us to keep in mind. We have had a TNR program to help locals for a few years, but don't have any colonies we're explicitly associated with and monitoring publicly. I'm excited to address this situation that has been hovering over us for years - but I'm also  worried it might lead to more cats being abandoned at the location. 

#CommunityCatManagement
#EducationandTraining

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Erin Dams
Community Relations Coordinator
Roanoke Valley SPCA
Roanoke VA
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Wow!  This amazing and laudable.  I have no experience to share, but wanted jump in to say that I admire your organization for doing this .  Community cats are definitely a reality and part of the landscape.  I think you are wise and kind to make sure it is well done. 

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Diane Metz
Volunteer
Orange Street Cats, Inc.
NY
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Hi Erin;

    This is great!  Thank you for embracing this and making this an educational opportunity.  I look forward to hearing about what models come forward and we can make up a checklist of items.   The folks at the Community Cats Podcast would be happy to help if needed.   I would bet most shelters have community cats and it would be cool to embrace it.    

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Stacy LeBaron
Head Cat
The Community Cats Podcast
Warren VT
978-239-2090
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Candace Huskey
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Hi! This is Kimberly from Stray Kitty Rescue PHL. I am so happy you posted this! Education is so important for what we do with animals. I have been a rescue for a few years now and I have seen an increase in abandonment of cats, and I think a lot of it could be due to lack of education and overall willingness to be educated. Many cats in the city are being dumped because they spray inside and thus these few cats are outside and colonies evolve.  The idea of taking that moment as a teaching one is brilliant! I was recently out trapping cats in a project community with my rescue partner and we found many neighbors outside asking us what we do and why we do it. We need to reach an audience such as that of say environmentalists where we make everyone aware of the issues and everyone care because if we all care we can all make a difference! I think having the signs out is great, as well as materials for reading or an email sign up sheet to learn more. If there is a representative there they can do a free cat class or something of the sort, where common questions can be answered. I love this initiative and will be adding to my immediate outreach approach. 

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[Kimberly] [Grieser]
[Founder and President]
[Stray Kitty Rescue]
[Philadelphia] [PA][https://www.petfinder.com/member/us/pa/philadelphia/stray-kitty-rescue-pa1220/][https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089161606329]
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Hi Erin.  I replied privately with some tips I have found helpful the past 19 years. 
Diane 

TNR and colony caretaker, MI 

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Diane Biega
Volunteer
TNR volunteer
MI
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Wow! This so amazing. Glad to hear this! 

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Charlie Williams
Lawyer
California Law Association
CA
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