Interview: Gregory Castle on Community Cats & TNR

I recently spoke with feline advocate Gregory Castle, a founder of Best Friends Animal Society and an expert in the topic of free-roaming cats. Castle is also associated with No More Homeless Pets in Utah.

At Best Friends, Castle consults on feral cats, or as he likes to refer to them, community cats. He believes the term “community cats” is fitting because “It reflects what we see as being the most appropriate view of this kind of cat by people in general.”

Castle notes, “We regard them, and would like to see people increasingly regard them, as cats which are part of the community.” He cautions against characterizing all free-roaming cats as feral.

Indeed, some of them are quite friendly! He adds that many community cats used to be someone’s pet before leaving home and not returning.

What are some advantages of regarding free-roaming cats as part of the community?

Castle explains: We want to really embrace all of these cats, and not with the image that feral cats are difficult to handle. Hopefully taking the view of cats as part of the community would lead others to wanting to take care of them as well.

Helping to take care of community cats often means using a method known as TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return).

Those practicing TNR with cats humanely trap them, take them to the vet to be neutered and often vaccinated as well, and then return them to the community. While community cats are at the vet, they’re also examined for health problems. Many times, the cat’s ear is tipped to signal that he’s been through the process.

But TNR doesn’t stop there. Castle explains that volunteers will keep an eye on these community cats, often helping to feed them and watching for signs of health issues. If small kittens are found, an effort is made to place them in homes as pets.

But not everyone loves TNR or community cats.

I asked Castle why he thinks there’s such a strong opposition (in some cases) to the practice of TNR. He said that some people just regard cats as a nuisance or they plain just don’t like them. Plus, there’s the threat to wildlife such as birds.

All of that is understandable.

However, TNR has many benefits for cats. Unlike the traditional method of catching and killing cats (as often happens in shelters), TNR helps to control the size of cat colonies.

Castle says, “The old traditional method of just simply catching them and destroying them is not an effective method of controlling populations.” With that method, unaltered cats will always be around and continue to breed. “It becomes a continual round of trapping and killing,” adds Castle.

TNR provides a way for many unadoptable cats to continue enjoying their lives. Castle says that people who don’t like cats often get in touch with animal control officers, and the result is that almost always the cats are killed in the shelter because they’re deemed unadoptable.

“I’d like to see that animal control officers become more aware that there are people around who like having cats in the neighborhood,” says Castle. He notes that many people enjoy having cats around, but don’t want a pet relationship.

Though Castle acknowledges that not everyone will love community cats, he says he’d “like to see a trend toward recognition (by animal control officers) of people who enjoy having cats in their community.”

How can you get involved with TNR?

Castle advises to look around for people who are already doing it and hook up with them. They will likely already have resources and expertise. If you can’t do that, learn how to do it yourself by researching online at places like Best Friends.

Your local no-kill cat shelter will most likely be able to point you in the direction of someone in your community who practices TNR already.

How do you feel about community cats?

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