ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s a problem across Albuquerque: stray cats roaming the neighborhoods and populating. One non-profit’s mission to reduce the number of unfixed cats is hoping to expand its operations and is seeking the public’s help.
For Jayne Sage, Wednesdays look like this. “We’re heading to a mobile home park over at Wyoming,” she said. Once there, she releases stray cats that live there after spaying and neutering them. She’s been doing this work since 2001 and founded Street Cat Hub in 2014.
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“It was just out of survival. We wanted our neighborhood to be a better place,” said Sage. “I only had one cat at the time and it was leashed trained and I didn’t plan on getting any more cats, but I kind of ended up in the middle of a lot more cats.”
Erin Atkinson is now the Director of Street Cat Hub. The organization traps stray cats, neuters them, and puts them back where they were found.
“Street Cat Hub actually serves the City of Albuquerque and surrounding areas,” said Atkinson. “Trap, neuter, return is really the proven method to be both humane and effective in the spay and neuter of free-roaming and community cats.”
The organization partners with entities including the City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, allowing them to perform the services for free. Once a cat is neutered and vaccinated, an ear is clipped so volunteers know the feline is fixed. If a cat is microchipped, the organization immediately tries to contact the owner. The group services 4,000-6,000 cats per year.
“The need out there currently exceeds what we’re able to attend to,” said Atkinson. This next fiscal year, the group is hoping to double its impact. Street Cat Hub recently appeared before Albuquerque City Council to advocate to keep up the funding.
“Whether you’re a cat lover like me or you’re not so fond of cats, it’s a problem. They’re out there, they’re hungry, they’re suffering, they can be a nuisance in neighborhoods,” said Atkinson.
But the nonprofit can’t expand its impact alone. The group is seeking volunteers to help trap cats and monitor them while they recover from surgery. They also want people who feed stray cats to fix them too.
“In order to really make a dent, we need people who are feeding one or two cats to get involved with us,” said Atkinson. The organization offers classes on how to trap a stray and even loans equipment to do it. “The dream, really, is for our services to not be needed or to be needed on such a small level,” she said.
To learn more about the organization, how to volunteer or make donations click here.
