Getaway Cafe to Host Fundraiser for Stray Cats Program

It's not just about his cats, but it might as well start there.

Responding to a stray cats problem that has affected a large part of , including behind his restaurant on Sussex Avenue, owner Lou Manolios has decided to partner with volunteer group Animals Against The Odds Rescue and Rehab to raise funds for the entrapment and neutering of loose cats.

From 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 12, all Getaway Cafe patrons who wish to participate in the fundraiser will have 20 percent of their final bills (before taxes and not including alcohol) donated to the Animals Against The Odds group for use in a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program that it hopes to run in Baldwin Township.

The TNR program involves placing feeding stations around Baldwin Township to trap loose cats. The cats would then be neutered/spayed before being returned to the area where they were caught.

The program has not yet received approval from the township's Board of Commissioners, but Manolios, who has seen firsthand cats leaving odors and droppings on residents' and businesses' property, is 100 percent behind the idea.

"It costs like $35 for each cat to be spayed or neutered," he said, "so the more (money) that we can raise, the better it is to help gain some control over all the cats that are out there.

"If they're spayed or neutered, then they can't inbreed. And then, eventually, they'll die naturally. There's probably about 25 cats (behind the Getaway), and they inbreed. That's the problem."

Representatives from Animals Against The Odds were among several people who attended a to tout their proposed TNR program as a way to solve a .

"It's not like this is an issue that's just in Baldwin Township," Manolios said. "It's in Dormont. It's in Green Tree. It's in Crafton. It's everywhere."

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