‘Meow Madness’ In Essex County Helps Ease Outdoor Cat Population

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A March Madness-themed campaign recently helped an Essex County nonprofit to ease the populations of several “community cat” colonies, advocates say.

Local nonprofit CPAW NJ, which is based in Montclair, helped residents in eight towns to reduce the size of outdoor cat colonies last month: Belleville, Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington, Livingston, Maplewood, Newark and Orange.

The nonprofit advocates for trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR), a method of lowering feral cat populations. Cats are spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies, and get treatment for injuries and illnesses if needed. The cats are then released back to their outdoor homes.

Speaking at a recent Essex County Board of Commissioners’ TNVR committee meeting, CPAW NJ president Amanda Ondrof said the group held several events during March as part of their “Meow Madness” campaign – each of which drew inspiration from the famous college basketball tournament.

A total of 101 outdoor cats were neutered in March, the group said.

“One colony, which we call ‘Sweet 19’ instead of the ‘Sweet 16,’ had 19 cats – six were pregnant,” Ondrof said.

“If those cats had given birth to a conservative estimate of three cats each, the colony would have doubled in size in just a few short weeks,” Ondrof said.

Want to help? People who feed outdoor cats in Essex County can request help on CPAW’s website. Meanwhile, volunteers are always needed to transport cats to and from vet appointments and other day-to-day tasks like marketing and fundraising, the nonprofit says.

Learn more here.

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