Community Cats

Monster Paws, a neighborhood ‘tom’ is successfully trapped for neutering and veterinary care. The veterinarian estimated him to be nearly ten years old, an extraordinary age for an unaltered male living on the streets. July 25, 2021.

Community cats include feral and socialized stray cats that typically live short, hard lives on the streets. Stray populations are not uncommon with statistics of anywhere between 60-100 million stray cats in the United States alone. Colony sizes can range from just a few cats to a hundred, depending on the location and resources available to the area. Diseases like herpes viral conjunctivitis, feline AIDS and leukemia are prevalent, untreated upper respiratory infections are highly contagious and even the smallest cut or would can prove problematic and even lethal given the increased difficulty in seeking veterinary care for these animals.

Education is paramount in helping reduce these populations and improve the lives of these cats. Trap-neuter-release (TNR) is an effective and humane solution, especially with cats who can not be socialized. One of the biggest and most unfortunate misconceptions is that spaying and neutering is not the best fix, causing those who dislike the presence of strays to opt for cruel and abusive tactics including poisoning, physical violence and other means to remove and end the lives of stray cats.

From February 2021 through January 2022, I documented a colony in Poets Square, a neighborhood in central Tucson, AZ. What began as an infrequent photo shoot quickly became a long term project, following along as the number of cats in the ‘outdoor crew’ were all successfully TNR’d, several were adopted into wonderful indoor homes and calls for help with other emergency trapping and rescue were taken on. The time spent documenting this particular group and the ongoing successes was inspiring and has encouraged countless others in the Tucson communities to continue working towards a brighter future for community cats.

Sad Boy, an assumed father of many of the neighborhood cats, sits in a yard. His left ear tip indicates that he has been neutered, a universal sign of “TNR” (trap, neuter, release) with stray cats. July 23, 2021.