Feralcatsatunl

“I bipped over to hang out with some passionate RAs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and I forgot to ask them why the heck there are so many cats running around campus...they could open a cat safari and make some money.”

Ripples v.10.02, Jan. 14, 2008: A free weekly email to 17,726 subscribers from Paul and the Ripples Project

Have you seen these cats on campus?

Multiple colonies of feral cats live on the UNL city campus.

We estimate the total population to be close to 100.

We have observed cat colonies in the vicinities of Love Library, the Sheldon, CBA, Canfield, Temple, Nebraska Union, Andersen Hall, Henzlik, the Health Center, Memorial Stadium and Selleck.

What’s the problem?Typically, our feral cats have an average of two litters per year of four kittens each. Nearly half of the kittens will die of natural causes by the age of two months. Others die on UNL grounds from harsh Nebraska winters.

Good Samaritans on campus have attempted to help the colonies at their own cost and risk. Those who feed campus cats with the best of intentions may leave behind trash or unknowingly damage garden plantings.

Due to food supply constraints, many ferals end up at the Humane Society because they are forced to leave campus. Those who escape early death and euthanasia go on to be prolific bearers of kittens over their short lifespan of approximately three years.

Many trapped kittens have shown symptoms of “fading kitten syndrome,” which is indicative of in-breeding and poor health.

Husker Cat AlliesHusker Cat Allies is a volunteer group of students, staff, and faculty. Our main goal is to work closely with the university in order to provide care and long-term management of feral cats on campus while helping to safeguard campus aesthetics and safety.

Proposed programWe wish to use a system called "TNRM" (trap,

neuter, return, manage). It's innovative and non-lethal and proven successful at other

campuses.

• In a TNRM system, we catch cats in live traps and transport them to local vets where they're examined, spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and ear tipped (for identification).

• Healthy adult cats are brought back to campus and released into their home territory. We then feed and monitor them daily.

• PUT PHOTO HEREThe proposed planWe have solicited pro bono and discounted assistance from local vets and organizations which will provide us with services.

Feral kittens will be caught, socialized, and made available for adoption. The purpose of a “TNRM” program is to stabilize the number of cats on a campus and reduce disease; we will not accept feral cats to our colonies from other locations, and we will not serve as a shelter.

We will be “staffed” by a team of dedicated volunteers from all branches of the campus community.

Keys to a successful effort

To ensure complete success, we believe these key elements involve the university’s cooperation:

• Permission to trap and care for the cats on UNL property.

• Cooperative work with Landscape Services to develop clean and attractive feeding locations where volunteers provide daily meals and observation of the feral cats.

• Participate in student service-learning and community volunteer work (the Big Event, etc.).

• Our effort is modeled after Stanford University's highly successful and humane program for controlling and managing feral cat populations on their campus.

• A similar program is in place at the University of Texas.• A small-scale version was implemented successfully at Texas A&M

University.• Many more campuses have programs modeled after Stanford’s

successful endeavor.

Providing the opportunity for Husker Cat Allies to initiate a “TNRM” system will offer many benefits

• A cleaner, safer campus environment, where existing cats are healthy, well fed, and vaccinated.

• Reduction of unwanted behavior and noise, reduced incidents of diseased or dead cats.

• Vector control. Maintenance of an active, healthy feral population plays an important role in controlling unwanted pests. Sufficiently fed cats still make excellent rodent predators.

• An excellent service-learning opportunity teaching community responsibility and leadership.

Tentative Organization of Husker Cat Allies

• Steering Committee (committee coordinators plus president, treasurer,

secretary) • Administration liaison (UNL admin/Landscape Services/City of Lincoln/The

Cat House) • TNRM team • Caretakers (feeding, monitoring health, maintain cat census database) • Development and Coalition-Building • Communication and promotion (campus awareness, web site)

Other Campus Feral Cat Programs

• Campus Cat Coalition – University of Texas, Austin, TX

• Aggie Feral Cat Alliance of Texas - Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

• UTA Campus Cat Coalition - University of Texas - Arlington

• Stanford Cat Network - Stanford University, Palo Alto

• Friends of Campus Cats - University of Washington, Seattle

• Cal Poly Feral Cat Program - California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

• Operation Catnip - North Carolina State University

• Feral Cat Rescue Group - University of North Texas, Denton

and many others