March 19, 2009 : 3:19 PM [Published online by the Best Friends Network]
TNR working on campuses across the nation
By Stephanie Rommel, Best Friends Network Volunteer
Kelly A. Bettinger is a strong and often outspoken advocate for the proven technique of TNR (trap, neuter, return) as the best humane answer to the overpopulation of feral cats.
This may not seem unusual, except Bettinger is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and is employed as the Collections Manager of the University of Georgia Herbarium. With more than 14 years of experience, her work focuses on avian research, bird community surveying and monitoring.
And, Bettinger loves cats too!
Cat Zip Alliance
She is one of three cofounders of Cat Zip Alliance (CZA), a nonprofit umbrella organization for Campus Cats, Kitty Crusaders and The Barn Cat Program.
Campus Cats helps feral cats on the University campus through its TNR program and Bettinger is its program coordinator. Students adopt or bring cats and kittens to the campus, and when they leave, some abandon them causing a cat overpopulation issue, a dilemma shared by many college campuses across the country.
Kitty Crusaders provides advice and information to people who want to humanely help a particular cat or colony of cats in Athens-Clarke County. The Barn Cat Program keeps a working list of farms, horse stables or other safe outdoor shelters. The barn owners volunteer to accept and care for two or three young sterilized cats that need homes.
One Kitten Started It All
For Bettinger, it began in 2006 with an innocuous email concerning a kitten left at the main library. Of course, she put food out, the mama cat and kittens showed up, she trapped the little group, and it all snowballed from there.
She recalls one muggy July evening lying flat on her stomach for nearly an hour halfway in a concrete sewer-opening near a sidewalk at the student center…mosquitoes and ants biting, sweat dripping down her nose…trying to coax a five-week-old kitten closer. Bettinger already had the mom cat in a trap next to her, hoping the kitten would see the mom and come near so she could grab him.
Suddenly, Bettinger says, the sidewalk filled with a well-dressed crowd leaving a lecture. “At first, most gave me a wide berth, not really looking at me, until one brave person asked what I was doing. After I told her, she placed a $20 bill next to me and wished me luck.”
A few minutes later, she collected the kitten, pulled herself out of the sewer and found about $50 in bills scattered around her (the sewer kitten is now grown and living with a UGA graduate in Tennessee).
Now Campus Cats is sustained by yearly fundraising efforts. Bettinger explains that there is "so much to do to help the enormous population of ferals." She adds, “I just had to put boundaries on this—so all I am willing to oversee is Campus Cats. Otherwise, I would be totally overwhelmed.”
Declining Number of Cats Means Success
They adopted out 56 cats and kittens in 2007; 45 in 2008. In 2009 they have adopted out four. Declining numbers mean success!
The UGA Campus Cats is following in the footsteps of similar university community cat programs, according to Bettinger. Stanford University has the oldest such program in the United States with its Stanford Cat Network. Begun in 1989, the cat population was 1,500. Today approximately 200 cats live on campus.
The Campus Cat Coalition at the University of Texas-Austin has seen great results with its 13-year-old TNRM (trap, neuter, return, manage) program. No new litters of kittens have been born there in the past eight years.
Texas A&M University began its AFCAT (Aggie Feral Cat Alliance of Texas) program in 1998. Their program has become a beneficial educational tool for Texas A&M veterinarian and wildlife sciences students.
Putting on her biologist hat, Bettinger believes "managing feral cats through TNR is the best way to reduce impacts on wildlife. I consider my position a realistic one that takes into account public opinion and economics. The opposition just wants them rounded up and killed using tax payer dollars."
In a study conducted by Alley Cat Allies, more than 80% of Americans surveyed voted to let feral cats live instead of trap and kill. The economics behind trap and kill is simply not there, Bettinger feels. Women won’t hold bake sale fundraisers to pay for killing cats. TNR is the only choice.
At the University of Georgia two-thirds of the Athens campus is now under control through the commitment of Bettinger’s Campus Cats. Her goal is to reach the point where no kittens are born, and all that is necessary is to care for and maintain the remaining feral cat population.
How You Can Help:
• To find out more about all the programs within Cat Zip Alliance visit www.catzip.org and learn how you can help or form a campus cat program.
• Caring For Feral Cats, a simple guide to caring for feral cats in your neighborhood: why trap/neuter/return works; how to obtain low-cost surgeries; the trapping and release process; and ongoing care.
• Hiding in Plain Sight, this article from the May/June 2008 issue of Best Friends magazine provides an overview of trap/neuter/return (TNR) as a means for humanely controlling feral cat populations. A sidebar addresses the issue of feral cats and birds.
• Join the Feral Cat Campaign on the Best Friends Network.
Photo of Kelly Bettinger by Pete Bettinger
Photo of feral by Stephanie Rommel
Stock main photo by Clay Myers, Best Friends Staff
Posted by Cheri Moon, Best Friends Staff
By Stephanie Rommel, Best Friends Network Volunteer
Kelly A. Bettinger is a strong and often outspoken advocate for the proven technique of TNR (trap, neuter, return) as the best humane answer to the overpopulation of feral cats.
This may not seem unusual, except Bettinger is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and is employed as the Collections Manager of the University of Georgia Herbarium. With more than 14 years of experience, her work focuses on avian research, bird community surveying and monitoring.
And, Bettinger loves cats too!
Cat Zip Alliance
She is one of three cofounders of Cat Zip Alliance (CZA), a nonprofit umbrella organization for Campus Cats, Kitty Crusaders and The Barn Cat Program.
Campus Cats helps feral cats on the University campus through its TNR program and Bettinger is its program coordinator. Students adopt or bring cats and kittens to the campus, and when they leave, some abandon them causing a cat overpopulation issue, a dilemma shared by many college campuses across the country.
Kitty Crusaders provides advice and information to people who want to humanely help a particular cat or colony of cats in Athens-Clarke County. The Barn Cat Program keeps a working list of farms, horse stables or other safe outdoor shelters. The barn owners volunteer to accept and care for two or three young sterilized cats that need homes.
One Kitten Started It All
For Bettinger, it began in 2006 with an innocuous email concerning a kitten left at the main library. Of course, she put food out, the mama cat and kittens showed up, she trapped the little group, and it all snowballed from there.
She recalls one muggy July evening lying flat on her stomach for nearly an hour halfway in a concrete sewer-opening near a sidewalk at the student center…mosquitoes and ants biting, sweat dripping down her nose…trying to coax a five-week-old kitten closer. Bettinger already had the mom cat in a trap next to her, hoping the kitten would see the mom and come near so she could grab him.
Suddenly, Bettinger says, the sidewalk filled with a well-dressed crowd leaving a lecture. “At first, most gave me a wide berth, not really looking at me, until one brave person asked what I was doing. After I told her, she placed a $20 bill next to me and wished me luck.”
A few minutes later, she collected the kitten, pulled herself out of the sewer and found about $50 in bills scattered around her (the sewer kitten is now grown and living with a UGA graduate in Tennessee).
Now Campus Cats is sustained by yearly fundraising efforts. Bettinger explains that there is "so much to do to help the enormous population of ferals." She adds, “I just had to put boundaries on this—so all I am willing to oversee is Campus Cats. Otherwise, I would be totally overwhelmed.”
Declining Number of Cats Means Success
They adopted out 56 cats and kittens in 2007; 45 in 2008. In 2009 they have adopted out four. Declining numbers mean success!The UGA Campus Cats is following in the footsteps of similar university community cat programs, according to Bettinger. Stanford University has the oldest such program in the United States with its Stanford Cat Network. Begun in 1989, the cat population was 1,500. Today approximately 200 cats live on campus.
The Campus Cat Coalition at the University of Texas-Austin has seen great results with its 13-year-old TNRM (trap, neuter, return, manage) program. No new litters of kittens have been born there in the past eight years.
Texas A&M University began its AFCAT (Aggie Feral Cat Alliance of Texas) program in 1998. Their program has become a beneficial educational tool for Texas A&M veterinarian and wildlife sciences students.
Putting on her biologist hat, Bettinger believes "managing feral cats through TNR is the best way to reduce impacts on wildlife. I consider my position a realistic one that takes into account public opinion and economics. The opposition just wants them rounded up and killed using tax payer dollars."
In a study conducted by Alley Cat Allies, more than 80% of Americans surveyed voted to let feral cats live instead of trap and kill. The economics behind trap and kill is simply not there, Bettinger feels. Women won’t hold bake sale fundraisers to pay for killing cats. TNR is the only choice.
At the University of Georgia two-thirds of the Athens campus is now under control through the commitment of Bettinger’s Campus Cats. Her goal is to reach the point where no kittens are born, and all that is necessary is to care for and maintain the remaining feral cat population.
How You Can Help:
• To find out more about all the programs within Cat Zip Alliance visit www.catzip.org and learn how you can help or form a campus cat program.
• Caring For Feral Cats, a simple guide to caring for feral cats in your neighborhood: why trap/neuter/return works; how to obtain low-cost surgeries; the trapping and release process; and ongoing care.
• Hiding in Plain Sight, this article from the May/June 2008 issue of Best Friends magazine provides an overview of trap/neuter/return (TNR) as a means for humanely controlling feral cat populations. A sidebar addresses the issue of feral cats and birds.
• Join the Feral Cat Campaign on the Best Friends Network.
Photo of Kelly Bettinger by Pete Bettinger
Photo of feral by Stephanie Rommel
Stock main photo by Clay Myers, Best Friends Staff
Posted by Cheri Moon, Best Friends Staff
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