The morning sunlight is just beginning to peek through the trees onto the snow-covered terrain as an orange cat with a crooked tail quickly wends down a wooded path.
He is on a mission.
Ahead lies a plate of food, his lifeline in the frozen months.
An unknown caregiver uses a trail camera to track his eating schedule, making it easier to determine the best time of day to set a humane trap to catch him.
As Crooked Tail eats in solitude, across town, more cats begin arriving at People for Animals (PFA) in Robbinsville, New Jersey. This “super clinic” provides low-cost spay and neuter surgeries and vaccine services. The small clinic is bustling with activity. Ten cats are awaiting surgery, lined up in the hallway.
Kevin Moore, executive director of PFA, said, “We do about 24,000 cat spays and neuters a year, across the organization.”
He continued, “In addition to that volume of spay and neuter, we also have what we call wellness services, that’s really like a vaccine clinic where we do vaccines and basic preventative care, and some limited sick [care], if we can, and we probably see another, I would say about 16,000 animals that way. So, every year, we’re treating, be it through surgery or preventative care, like 40,000 animals a year.”
Many of these are free-roaming cats that are trapped, neutered, vaccinated for rabies, ear-tipped and returned in a practice commonly referred to as trap-neuter-return (TNR).
PFA does not have the personnel to trap cats themselves. Instead, caregivers and trappers can rent a trap from PFA for a small deposit, which they get back when the trap is returned. PFA will provide additional care if it’s needed for trapped cats.
“If a tail amputation is needed, or an eye needs to be removed, or whatever you can think of, we’re going to help those cats out,” Moore said.
When Elaine Bigelow, a six-year resident of Cream Ridge and longtime trapper, initially began the practice, she had concerns about the “return” portion of TNR.
Bigelow said, “Back then I was like, ‘Oh, these cats don’t want to stay out there, they want a nice warm bed.'”
Now Bigelow funds spay and neuter surgeries for local residents who cannot afford to pay. And in terms of the ethics of TNR, her opinion has completely shifted.
“As long as [the cats] have food, water, and shelter, they’re fine,” she said.
Other residents in the area have differing opinions. Larry Chiaravallo, a resident and business owner in Cream Ridge, believes in trap-neuter-adoption (TNA), an alternative to TNR.
“If you can get [the cats] indoors, I would strongly prefer that as the methodology,” Chiaravallo said. “I think it’s better for the entire ecosystem.”
Grant Sizemore, director of invasive species programs for the American Bird Conservancy, agrees that outdoor cats are problematic.
“Sterilized or not, those cats cause harm in the environment,” Sizemore said. “Outdoor cats are among the world’s most harmful invasive species and have contributed to the extinction of 63 species worldwide. In the United States alone, they are estimated to kill about 2.4 billion birds every year.”
In a similar take to Chiaravallo, Sizemore believes the best method involves the removal of stray and feral cats from the landscape, and providing them with the opportunity for adoption or placement in a long-term facility.
“If all other opportunities are unavailable, then euthanasia, but under no circumstances should they be re-abandoned back to the outdoors,” Sizemore said.
Moore disagrees with the practice of trapping and killing.
“Trap and kill just doesn’t work. It’s never solved the problem,” he said. “Besides being unfair and showing a lack of reverence for life, in my opinion, it’s not effective.”
Many municipalities lack a TNR program to help cats like Crooked Tail, placing the financial burden of TNR on residents. PFA charges $90 for a TNR procedure as opposed to its standard $130 for domestic cats.
Recent efforts have been made to try and alleviate the expense of TNR for New Jersey residents, such as the Compassion for Community Cats Law (Bill A3635), reintroduced in February 2024.
“This bill will open [resources] up to people on government assistance who are trying to do the right thing, and trap community cats and fix them, who are currently paying out of their own pocket in this tough economy,” Moore said.
When municipalities lack TNR programs, clinics like PFA provide low-cost veterinary services for residents seeking TNR or other care for community cats.
At a Feb. 10 town hall meeting in Howell, residents described finding dead or injured kittens during recent near-zero temperatures. Several speakers argued that earlier spay-and-neuter efforts might have prevented the animals from being born outdoors.
For caregivers and trappers, TNR reduces the number of kittens born into conditions like the winter Crooked Tail recently endured. Soon, he too will be unable to contribute to the community cat population.
Moore said, “Some people have a tendency to view these cats as pests, but they’re just trying to survive in the situation they were put in.”
