Home > Out of the Cage! > Spring 2008 > Enhanced Feral Cat Initiative Web Site to Spur Greater Involvement by Caring New Yorkers

Enhanced Feral Cat Initiative Web Site to Spur Greater Involvement by Caring New Yorkers

In May, the New York City Feral Cat Initiative, a program of the Mayor's Alliance, will unveil a new and improved web site that promises to make it easier for people who are interested in helping NYC's feral and stray cats to find the assistance and resources they need to get involved. The redesigned site, which will load at the existing site's web address — www.NYCFeralCat.org — is being enhanced to provide the most up-to-date information on a wide range of topics, organized in a manner that is intended to be user-friendly and more easily navigated than the current site.

For example, the redesigned site will clearly delineate the services offered by the Initiative and will provide resources for those looking for assistance in areas where the Initiative does not provide services. Currently, the Initiative offers direct services in these areas:

Although the NYC Feral Cat Initiative does not handle emergency rescues or cruelty cases, nor does the Initiative take in cats from the general public, the new web site directs visitors to organizations that provide services in these areas.

Visitors to the new site will have easy access to a wealth of information on a variety of feral cat-related issues, including materials developed by Neighborhood Cats. Among the site's content: flyers and how-to materials concerning TNR; a "Stop Poisoning" poster; information about bottle-feeding and taming feral kittens; and information about feral cat colony care. Additionally, concerned individuals who want to volunteer in the area of feral cat assistance, or those wishing to donate to help fund TNR projects in NYC, will easily find the information they need to take action.

To complement the new web site scheme, the NYC Feral Cat Initiative's telephone system has been expanded and enhanced to provide callers with immediate answers to many of their questions without requiring a call-back from an Initiative representative. Because of the tremendous number of calls that come into the Initiative each day, and the urgent nature of some of the calls, detailed and informative outgoing messages are providing callers with the information they need right away to handle routine or urgent situations 24/7. The NYC Feral Cat Initiative's phone number is (212) 330-0033.

The important message being conveyed through the enhanced web site and phone system, as well as a new NYC Feral Cat Initiative brochure recently produced and distributed by the Mayor's Alliance (supplies are available free to any Mayor's Alliance participating organization), is this: caring individuals can, and must, become involved in improving the plight of NYC's feral and stray cats if real gains are to be made in the quality of their lives. TNR is the linchpin of successful humane management and eventual reduction of feral cat populations. And so, individuals working together within their neighborhoods, drawing upon the resources of the NYC Feral Cat Initiative and other entities available to them, are the keys to success in taming the feral cat crisis that New York, like most cities, is facing.

In New York City, the NYC Feral Cat Initiative is making strides toward creating a kinder community for feral and stray cats. In 2007, the Initiative was responsible for the spaying or neutering of 2,439 cats and kittens, and rescued 1,383 kittens for adoption. Twenty-two TNR workshops in 2007 trained 350 individuals to do TNR. And the New York City Feral Cat Database registered hundreds of colonies throughout the city's five boroughs.

To become a part of the growing community that is making positive changes for NYC's outdoor cats, visit the Feral Cat Initiative web site at www.NYCFeralCat.org. (We expect the enhanced site will be online by mid-May.) Take a Neighborhood Cats TNR training workshop and become a certified feral cat caretaker, with access to all the services and guidance offered by the Initiative. Become a foster volunteer for an organization in your area that works with feral cats. Or donate to help fund programs in NYC that are making life better for its outdoor cats.