Philadelphia Community Cat Care: Trap-Neuter-Release

A shy but friendly Powelton Village cat came to say hello while I visited my friend. He likes to lay in the dirty. Photos by author.

What is Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR)? 

The trap-neuter-release method is pretty much what it sounds like: a cat is humanely trapped, brought to a veterinary clinic for a fix/spay surgery, and released back into the wild once it has healed. Clinics typically mark cats' ears to signal that they have undergone TNR. 

TNR prevents community cats from breeding and future populations from growing excessively. Cats can have multiple litters yearly, with three to six kittens per litter. Unaltered, these cat populations can grow exponentially in a very short period. Aside from the loud feral cat meows and the safety of other neighborhood species, community cat overpopulation strains shelter intake when cats become sick and need veterinary care. According to Alley Cat Allies, TNR is a safe and humane solution to prevent the spread of disease to other animals and save outdoor cats from potentially suffering pregnancy and birth complications. 

While many wish they could save and adopt all the outdoor cats from their street life, finding homes for every cat is unrealistic. Even if that were a possible solution, picking up outdoor cats and taking them off the street only makes room for other outdoor cats. In what Alley Cat Allies refers to as the vacuum effect of nature, it wouldn’t take long for nearby neighborhood cats to take advantage of the open territory. Therefore, TNR is the quickest and most humane solution to stabilizing a community cat population. 

How it Helps Philadelphia 

As of 2019, Philadelphia was estimated to have 400,000 community cats. This population is expected to be much larger now—much too large for the city’s shelters to handle, even among the various lifesaving organizations and cat rescues. According to a WHYY interview with ACCT Philly, the city’s largest open-intake shelter, ACCT Philly currently has one employee running its community cat program. Like most shelters that are limited in funding, ACCT Philly relies on volunteers to help bring cats for TNR, often at their own expense. 

Catadelphia is just one among many rescue organizations. It is a TNR organization that mainly operates on Facebook, where 4,500 community members provide information on reserving traps, where to pick them up, trapping trips, and nearby TNR and vaccine clinics. Many Philadelphians are dedicated to the TNR mission, but there’s only so much that a few groups can do. 

WHYY reports that 70% of the outdoor cat population needs to be fixed for TNR efforts to be effective. In addition to those large numbers, other community members may try to deter TNR efforts. As community cats keep the rodent populations down and can bring a general charm to the neighborhood, rescues and volunteers can face trap disturbances from community members who are uninformed about the benefits of TNR. 

What Can Philadelphia Do? 

If it wasn’t clear before, let it be known that TNR efforts are not a high priority for the City Council of Philadelphia. In their contractual budget of $6.24 million, TNR surgeries are not listed among the obligations required of ACCT. In an interview with Billy Penn, ACCT’s co-executive director cites that contractual obligation is key to getting the funds needed to perform TNR surgeries, only then truly seeing populations effectively stabilize. 

Neither the City of Philadelphia nor the Parks and Recreation Department provide many resources on dealing with community cats, aside from one page dedicated to citizens seeking to volunteer or adopt. However, they feature a blog post that, despite successfully advocating for TSR in the end, provides a bizarre and bitter attitude towards outdoor cats in general. 

Overall, it’s safe to say that the community cat population is not a high priority on the City Council’s list. It has been roughly six years since the last figures of the community cat populations were released, and we can expect that the numbers aren’t looking good. So, for now, Philadelphia will continually rely on the few group efforts of kind-hearted people with lots of free time on their hands to help continue the TNR program.