Photo Courtesy of Bideawee
Under the agreement with the City, Bideawee will continue to provide many Feral Cat Initiative services.
By Forum Staff
Bideawee has assumed responsibility for the operation and management of the New York City Feral Cat Initiative, the animal-welfare and pet-adoption organization announced Friday.
Launched in 2005 by the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, the FCI has supported the efforts of organizations and individuals who work to reduce Gotham’s population of feral cats, also called community cats, through Trap-Neuter-Return, which is recognized as the most humane and effective approach to managing the growing population of community cats.
According to Bideawee, feral cats are not socialized to humans and are not suited for adoption. Left unfixed, community cats will breed prolifically. TNR controls population growth as well as many of the nuisance behaviors associated with unneutered cats, such as yowling, fighting, and marking territory, Bideawee officials noted.
Under the agreement with the City, Bideawee will continue to provide many FCI services, including: free TNR training and certification workshops; free specialty training workshops, such as bottle feeding, taming kittens, shelter building, and neighborhood relations; access to free loans of TNR equipment including traps, dividers, and cages; free transport of cats to and from clinics where the animals are spayed or neutered; and free community outreach materials.
“We are confident that under Bideawee’s leadership, FCI will not only continue to deliver the same critical services and resources currently enjoyed by NYC’s community cat caretakers, but also will take the program to the next level in improving the lives of NYC’s community cats,” Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals President Jane Hoffman said.
