http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/05/steelton_group_begins_program.html

Steelton group begins program to catch, neuter and release stray cats
By Joe Elias, The Patriot-News
May 05, 2010, 9:00PM

Thanks to a group of borough residents, 41 stray cats will be able to live out their lives.

They just won’t be able to reproduce.

The cats were the first ones rounded up during the last week of April as part of a catch, neuter and release program being supported through volunteer efforts and contributions, said Maria Romano Marcinko, a Borough Council member.

Marcinko said the group of about 20 volunteers plans similar catches about every six weeks until all of the estimated 800 stray cats in the borough have been neutered, vaccinated and treated for fleas and ticks. PAWS paid for the veterinarian.

Marcinko said the group got the idea for the catch after receiving a bill from the Humane Society last year for $26,000 for animal removal services.

“Getting rid of the cats doesn’t solve the problem because you’ll never get them all,” Marcinko said. “You have to make sure they can’t reproduce.”

WHAT’S NEXT? The group will hold a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the borough hall at 123 N. Front St.

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STEELTON

Creative solutions to borough problems are the cat's meow in Steelton.

A trap-and-release program for feral cats -- run by Steelton volunteers -- was designed by a borough councilwoman who used to know little about feral cat control, and a project manager who is "a dog person."

Nevertheless, the project has successfully trapped, neutered and released about 130 cats in two rounds, including 53 felines in June.

Volunteers spend several days trapping feral cats from various cat colonies in the borough. The cats are spayed or neutered and given rabies vaccinations. A couple of days later, the cats are released back to their colonies.

The program was started after borough officials received complaints about feral cats, Councilwoman Maria Romano Marcinko said.

And 85 percent of a $26,000 bill received from the Humane Society was attributed to costs related to stray cats. Amy Wimmersberger, the project manager for the trap-and-release program, heard from Marcinko about the cost and thought about how to successfully reduce the feral cat population without constantly killing individual cats.

They also realized that "if you cherry pick [individual cats], you're not going to solve the problem," Wimmersberger said.

The trap-and-release program is modeled after one from the Mayor's Alliance of New York City, she said. It also was based on research showing that if 65 percent of cats in the area are spayed or neutered, the population will stabilize and start to decline, she said.

Thus, they are collecting cats by colony rather than individually.

They plan to continue the process for the remainder of the year, she said, until they have spayed or neutered 65 percent of 380 feral cats (the estimated number for a borough of Steelton's size).

Armed with the equipment and knowledge, Wimmersberger said they also might be able to help other municipalities interested in the project.

Numerous organizations and individuals have volunteered to help. PAWS brought rabies vaccines for the cats and supplied the veterinarian, Marcinko said.

Hospice will take care of cats that test positive for feline leukemia. Although the project volunteers return as many cats as possible to their colony, Castaway Critters also is helping to find owners for cats that cannot go back into the wild, Wimmersberger said. Someone donated homemade traps while another donor gave T-shirts that say "Steelton Borough Community Cats."

Employees of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole and Dauphin County Adult Probation and Parole also helped with the project to fulfill their required service hours, she said. The helpers were "a lifesaver," she said, and some liked the program so much that they volunteered to come back on their own time.

Marcinko said this is "the first municipality in central Pennsylvania willing to give this a try."

The borough loaned volunteers a building to house the cats during the process and disposed of trash. The project was done without use of any taxpayer money.

Marcinko said the program also takes a dose of diplomacy -- some residents that care for the cats were upset about the trapping.