Feral cat TNR success story

[LDS Jock]

At the University of Texas at Austin....

The Campus Cat Coalition is an all-volunteer organization. We are full-time staff members and donate our spare time to the group. We manage the population of feral cats (wild, undomesticated) that live on the main campus and the Pickle Research Center.

Feral campus cats have long been an issue on the UT-Austin campus. In an effort to eradicate them, the administration periodically had the cats trapped and destroyed. That never really solved the problem. So in 1995, cat-lovers from around campus united and formed a coalition. We convinced the administration to let us take over the care and control of the feral cats by using a more humane practice (sterilization). They agreed.

We are sanctioned by the University but do not receive any funding from them. We are a registered UT staff organization. Our group currently works closely with the Animal Make Safe Program of UT's Office of Environmental Health & Safety. We run the program from contributions alone. We have 501-(c)3 Non-Profit status under the umbrella of the Austin Humane Society/SPCA.

The system we use to control the campus cat population is commonly referred to as "TNRM" (trap, neuter, return, manage). It's innovative, it's non-lethal and we have nine years worth of statistics to prove that it really does work! We catch adult cats in cage traps and transport them to local veterinarians where they're examined, spayed/neutered, vaccinated, ear tipped (for identification), and microchipped. After a few days of recovery time they're brought back to campus and released into their home territory. We then feed and monitor them daily. Feral kittens are caught, socialized, and placed up for adoption. The purpose of our program is to decrease the number of cats on campus -- we do not add feral cats to our colonies from other locations -- and we are not a shelter.

Currently there are only 30-40 remaining sterilized adult cats living on campus in small colonies. All of them have been sterilized. No new litters of kittens have been born here for the past 5 years! Those numbers show that the program is working and working very well! With these results, we're happy, the administration is happy, and most important of all, the CATS are happy!

Please click on any of the links below to learn how we started our group and details of our program. The Helpful Links will direct you to other feral cat management programs around the country including other college programs. Thanks for visiting our site!

from here, also with pics of cats adopted out from program
http://www.ae.utexas.edu/cats/

[Longhorn]

1. I am very proud to be a Longhorn

when I read stuff like this! Thanks so much for posting about it. I remember the cats were there back when I was a student living on campus in 1973-74 and students and staff would leave food out for them. It's good to know that such a caring and innovative program exists!

Hook 'em, Horns!

[Lorien]

2. good for them! I'm going to try to have one in my neighborhood

neutered next week, if I can catch him. He's a good mouser. My mouse and rat population has decreased greatly since he moved in, so releasing him seems to be good for the neighborhood-and for him (he's a happy little guy).

[prole_for_peace]

3. i am going to mail a donation tomorrow.

my local college also has a fairly large cat colony. i am going to contact them (the college, not the cats) and ask if they have heard about this.

[kaitykaity]

4. One of my neighbors adopted a feral kitten a couple of weeks ago.

The other neighbors found her at the beach (70 miles away)
and knowing that Mg had just had to put one of her two cats
down (he was 17, had mouth cancer), they figured she would
want the little critter.

Sure enough.

I met her yesterday. She's gray with tabby markings.
She was sitting on the front edge of the bed when we came
in, and when Mg picked her up she sniffed my hand but then
she was squiggly and squirmy, "let me down."

She went to the back side of the bed (near the wall) and
sat there with her back to us. But then she turned around
and stared at us.

I think that means she's socializing pretty well, right?
She didn't run under anything or go hide completely. She
just needed some space.

She's the cutest thing. (I don't remember what she named
her, though.)