Want to be a cat colony caretaker? Freehold approves stray cat reduction plan
FREEHOLD BOROUGH — A program to trap, neuter and release (TNR) stray cats will begin in 2023 after Borough Council approved the idea Monday in an effort to reduce the feral population following years of pressure from local residents.
The council voted, 4-1, for the idea as part of a two-year pilot program. Council Member Michael DiBenedetto cast the lone opposing vote.
The program will involve residents volunteering to find and collect stray cats, help them get spayed or neutered and vaccinated, then released back into the community.
“We are going to see if it works,” Mayor Kevin Kane said. “It is an issue that needs to be addressed and we will give it a shot.”
More:Stray cat fight: Should Freehold neuter and release, or send them to possible death?
The borough plans to contract with a local firm to oversee the program, in which residents will have to apply for designation as so-called “community cat caretakers,” according to the ordinance approved Monday.
A request for proposals, or RFP, for firms to apply for the contract will be issued in January, Kane said. He had no estimate on the potential cost.
Each volunteer caretaker will have to apply with a designation for a “cat colony” that has formed among strays in a specific borough location.
Once approved, the caretakers will document when cats are found, spayed or neutered, vaccinated and released, Kane said.
“We need them to step up and be responsible for these colonies and document them,” Kane said of the caretakers.
The goal is to have the feral cats protected against disease and neutered or spayed so that they cannot reproduce, limiting the population growth, Kane said.
More:Freehold Borough expected to launch stray cat neuter-and-release program
“As they are neutered and vaccinated the population will go away in numbers,” he said. “The big thing is documenting what is going on with these colonies, seeing how many there are and taking responsibility for them.”
The new program follows years of pressure from a group of cat lovers who have engaged in their own trap, neuter and release, or TNR, practices for several years.
Many of those residents contend that TNR programs are more humane then letting the cats run wild or placing them in shelters where many are later killed.
“This is what we wanted,” said Andrea Burica, a resident who has trapped, neutered and released cats on her own for several years. “Right now we are averaging about 10 cats a month and it is still happening. We see them on a lot of streets and the cats merge into one block.”
Robert Galante, a four-year resident and among those who spearheaded the new program, believes it will cut down the stray population immensely.
“I’m grateful to our town officials for being so responsive to what we need,” he said. “We hope for success that will eventually lead to no feral cats being born.”
The TNR approach is a growing system in some parts of New Jersey that proponents say is more humane and a better way to reduce cat populations.
Currently, if Freehold residents find a feral cat and report it to borough officials, the case is turned over to the Western Monmouth Animal Control, a consortium of Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Manalapan and Millstone that handles cats and all animal-control issues, according to officials
The borough pays $29,000 annually for the service. Most cats are taken to shelters that often destroy them after a specific period of time, officials said. The animal control website states the Freehold strays are taken to the SPCA in Eatontown.
But that contract is only for responding to injured animals and not feral cats that are healthy.
“We will still need that animal control because that encompasses everything, this feral cat program will be a whole separate thing,” Kane said. “The public said there is a problem but they need to be involved to see how it works.”
Locally, efforts to bring feral cat programs to Howell and Brick have taken place, with Brick adopting an ordinance 10 years ago that allows residents to do it on their own.
Among the other Garden State communities that have instituted TNR programs in recent years are Sayreville, Kearny and Bordentown Township in Burlington County.
“I’m glad that the council is finally taking action on this,” said Freehold Borough Council Member Annette Jordan. “It is a pilot program and we’re going to be able to see how much of an impact we are going to have.”
Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience who covers education and several local communities for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of three books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at jstrupp@gannettnj.com and at 732-413-3840. Follow him on Twitter at @joestrupp
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Freehold Borough seeks firm for stray cat program monitoring
