Director of TNR Education for NYC Feral cat education Kathleen O’Malley (wearing the cat ears hat) with her team of volunteers as the Alliance for NYC’s Animals distributes free cat food in Queens.
New York City Feral Cat Initiative helped dole out 18,000 pounds of donated cat food at the World’s Fair Marina in Queens to volunteers who have pledged to make sure stray and feral cats are fed adequately.
Only cat lovers who have been through the Train-Neuter-Return feral cat certification program were eligible to receive this free food, donated by the
ASPCA and the Jackson Galaxy Foundation.
The program trains people to help control the city’s cat population by feeding, sheltering and caring for the strays.
Over 18,000 pounds of cat food was distributed to over 260 certified feral cat caretaker volunteers in New York City.
“These volunteers are really doing all the labor, mostly on their own dime,” Jane Hoffman, president of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, said of the free food recipients. “So this is the way we try to help them.”
More than 260 volunteers who have been certified as feral cat caretakers came by the event to pick up food for their “colonies” of cats.
“Without this help I wouldn’t be able to do it,” said Marlene Kaselis, who takes care of 10 strays in Astoria. “I live on social security and I would not be able to feed the kittens and the cats. They’re animals. They’re helpless. They’re poor little animals. And they’re beautiful.”