Photo Courtesy of Athena Dawson
Claudia Canmen, a student at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, started the Campus Cat Initiative, which aims to spay or neuter the over 40 stray cats living on campus and give them forever homes. The project began when Canmen found a stray cat on campus; she later named this cat Harvey. She was taken aback by the sheer number of cats on the campus and decided to take action.
Canmen turned to social media to spread information on her personal Facebookabout the organization’s plans to match the cats with foster homes, expressing their need for donations. That post garnered support, and the Campus Cat Initiative received over 275 cans of cat food donations, traps and pounds of dry food. Community members have even volunteered to foster some of the cats on campus. Tender Loving Cats (TLC) has created a link to a PayPal and Amazon wish list for the program.
“I think what really sparked [the Campus Cat Initiative]even more … I found out that when Harvey found me, he had already been on campus for a month, his owner passed away from COVID, and his family dumped him on campus,” Canmen said.
Through TLC, Canmen spearheaded the Campus Cat Initiative, taking on the title of program coordinator and tasking herself with tending to the multiple neglected colonies on Hofstra’s campus.
With the permission of the University, Canmen was able to officially work on the initiative to spay and neuter all of the cats on Hofstra’s campus. Since then, Canmen began holding scheduled feedings for the animals and created a plan for a mass trapping. Fellow law student Aridana Muniz and TLC volunteer Lisa Landers, have also been working with Canmen to take care of the cats on campus.
The Campus Cat Initiative’s current mission is to take care of the cats’ health and find some of the non-feral cats forever homes. Muniz says that she ran into Canmen and they began talking about the cats until she offered to help with assisting in the feedings.
“I feel bad because there are so many cats out there,” Muniz said. “At that point I didn’t know if anybody fed them. I was like yeah, I will help you with whatever you need.”
Canmen has a background in working with felines. In her free time, she works off campus with TLC handling adoption cases and fostering cats that have been brought to the shelter. She started working with TLC at the beginning of the pandemic.
It seems as though the COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a rise in animal adoptions: TLC was the only shelter on Long Island to stay open during the pandemic, and handled 500 adoption applications in this year alone. When the president of the organization turned to social media to ask for additional volunteers, Canmen offered to be a foster mom.
“I know COVID has affected a lot of people negatively, but I have to say if there was any bright side to look at for me, it’s the fact that if COVID had not happened, I would not have been involved with TLC, and I would not have been taking care of this colony right now,” Canmen said.
Despite their busy schedules, these young women still find time to focus on the Campus Cat Initiative.
“It’s hard only because we have really tight schedules and we have so much work at the law school,” Muniz said. “I think the one thing we look forward to every day is feeding the cats after class.”
After fostering a cat through the organization, Landers also began working with TLC. She joined the TLC adoption committee and helps with the trapping, neutering and releasing (TNR) for the Campus Cat Initiative. She has also been taking care of some of the feral cats that have been trapped on campus before they go to get checkups.
“Our philosophy as a rescue is we want to find these cats their forever homes, not just homes for now … [giving them to an adopter] who might give them back is not to anyone’s benefit. So, we are extremely transparent with adopters in all regards possible [as to] whether the cat is not well socialized or the cat has medical problems,” Landers said.
In terms of long-term goals, the founders of the Campus Cat Initiative want to create a spay and neuter clinic, but they are still looking for fundraising to launch this program.
Canmen plans on officially starting the club after she finishes this semester of law school. However, the University does not want students in the club to handle the cats unless they are TLC volunteers.
“My dream would be to get everybody involved in some way,” Canmen said. “Whether it’s keeping a lookout for [the cats] … [or] getting excited about feeding [the cats] and educating other people.”
[email protected] • Dec 15, 2020 at 9:19 pm
There should be no “Campus Cats”
Wherever there are free roaming cats – there’s toxoplasmosis.
Parents and students pay tuition to learn.
Not to pick up a parasite left daily in cat urine and feces.
The oocysts can live a couple of years in the ground.
There are no shots for it nor a cure.
A great read.
TNR advocates:
Why do so many TNR advocates seem to have such a severe aversion to data and facts? We publish links to peer-reviewed research and cite sources such as the CDC, The American Medical Veterinary Association, The National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, The Mayo Clinic, universities, medical professionals, environmentalists, conservation organizations, and wildlife professionals We also publish news articles from reputable sources about issues relating to TNR and free-roaming cats. We also publish screen-shots of feral cat hobbyists discussing issues with their cats on social media pages. So many TNR advocates seem to think there is some huge conspiracy between scientists and researchers and medical professionals and universities and public health organizations and wildlife professionals and on and on to "demonize" free-roaming cats. Do you think they all meet at some secret location every year to plan out ways to make cats look bad? Nobody is "demonizing" free-roaming cats. They are just presenting facts about these issues because they are serious issues that need to be addressed in a serious way that actually works to mitigate the problem.
We know it’s not the cat’s "fault". It is the fault of humans who don’t spay/neuter and who allow cats to free-roam, including those who re-dump cats into the environment through TNR. It isn’t the cat’s fault. Cats don’t have "fault". They are animals. They just do what they are programmed instinctually to do. But we don’t base our solutions on who is at fault. Pythons and feral hogs and lionfish and nutria aren’t at fault either. But we remove them. We don’t TNR them. We base our solutions on what will work. Both science and real-world experience have shown us that TNR does not work to reduce feral cat populations.
Why do you think it is that you have to sneak around at night to feed your cat colonies? Why do you think it is that sometimes when you do get caught feeding feral cats, the person is upset with you and berates you? Why do you think it is that you have to hide the colonies and be careful not to mention their location in public? It is because the vast majority of people know that feeding and sustaining feral cats in the environment is, at best, a nuisance, and at worst, a public health and environmental threat. No one wants these cat colonies near their home. No one, not even most of the TNR feeders. Most of their colonies are on someone else’s property. It’s mostly "other people" who have to put up with the stench of urine and feces. It’s mostly "other people" who have to put up with cat hair and fleas on their patio furniture. It’s mostly "other people" whose gardens and flower beds are ruined by free-roaming cats. It’s mostly "other people" who have to risk toxoplasmosis, hookworm, ringworm, bartonella, rabies, and more. It’s mostly ‘other people" who have to find the native birds and rabbits and chipmunks and other critters that bring them joy in their yards, dead in their yard.
None of the people providing these facts about free-roaming cats are opposed to you "saving" cats. None of the people who don’t want cats in their yards killing birds or damaging property or risking their health are opposed to you "saving" cats. Just do it in a responsible way. Do it in enclosures on your own property. Clean up and properly dispose of the feces. Don’t keep more than you can manage. If every TNR advocate did this a great many cats could be saved. Don’t feed feral cats. Find indoor homes for all the friendly strays that you can. That’s great. But realize that not every cat can or should be saved. If you have a cat in a trap and you can’t find an enclosed space for that cat, then that cat should be euthanized. Not every cat must be saved. Not every cat can be saved. To the cat, euthanization starts out in exactly the same way that the neutering process does — the cat is sedated. The difference is that the cat never wakes up. The cat doesn’t know any difference in the process. Humane euthanasia is just that – humane. There is nothing "cruel" about it. It is unfortunate. It is sad. But it is humane. And sometimes it is necessary.