When individuals and organizations form coalitions to help community cats, their impact can be greater as they pool their resources and harness their collective expertise. That’s why Alley Cat Allies is enthusiastic about the Montgomery County Community Cat Coalition in Maryland. Its mission is to improve the lives of community cats by promoting Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), assisting community cat caregivers, and educating residents about community cats.
The coalition formed in March 2016, and we were delighted to provide guidance and expertise. After all, TNR is truly a community effort.
“The coalition puts [TNR] in the community, where it belongs,” says Thomas Koenig, who became director of Maryland’s Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center (MCASAC) in 2015. He suggested creating the coalition after he had success forming Virginia’s Loudon County Community Cat Coalition in 2014.
Kim Deserio, volunteer for TNR group Metro Ferals, says the coalition has helped her group increase its impact and get more community cats spayed and neutered. “Now we find out about so many more colonies because the [shelter] staff refers people to us,” says Deserio.
Plus, colony caregivers feel empowered to tend to their colonies without getting in trouble with animal control. “There is this spirit of collaboration and cooperation,” Deserio adds.
Nearly 300 cats have been spayed or neutered since March 2017, thanks to monthly mobile spay/neuter clinics with Metro Ferals, which is also a member of our Feral Friends Network. The coalition also supports MCASAC as the shelter continues to work toward reducing the killing of community cats and instead returning them to their colonies.
The shelter will spay and neuter, eartip, microchip, vaccinate, and provide veterinary care for community cats brought to the shelter. Then it coordinates with community cat groups to return the cats to their outdoor homes. Animal control officers also don’t pick up eartipped cats, and shelter staff will provide community members with information and resources for TNR.
Efforts like these are key to making progress for TNR and community cats. As support grows, the coalition expects to be the local go-to resource for caregivers, as well as the shelter, says coalition President Jan Armstrong. She says the coalition will educate people about TNR and help them to “understand what community cats are and how we can help them, and why we should help them.”
Eventually, the coalition will become a model program for other communities, “and we have the skills in this group to do it,” Armstrong says.
The coalition includes nonprofit organizations, animal control officers, animal shelter staff, veterinarians, individuals who carry out TNR, colony caregivers, and animal advocates.
“We’ve had a great working relationship,” Koenig says of his organization and Alley Cat Allies. “We’ve done a lot to move [MCASAC] forward.”
Start a coalition in your community! Go to alleycat.org/CommunityChange