TNR: Trap Neuter Release

With funding and support from the Cat Network, volunteers provide a safe, humane alternative for controlling Miami-Dade’s population of strays. 

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Catch and Release

Carine Stanovici will never forget her first catch. Six years ago, not far from her Coconut Grove home, she learned a population of stray cats was multiplying. “An elderly man was feeding them -- he loved seeing the kittens.” After hearing about the Cat Network’s low-cost trap-neuter-return (or TNR) program, which provides low-cost spay and neuter services throughout Miami-Dade, Stanovici offered the man a deal: she would catch the strays, have them fixed and vaccinated, and then returned back to his home. He agreed, and she caught one her first night; eleven in all at the location.

“I was just super, super happy,” she recalls of the first time she returned to check the cage and saw two eyes gazing back at her. “It really is a thrill.” 

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A Volunteer's Passion

Stanovici is among a growing group of volunteers doing their part to help Miami-Dade keep its population of stray cats in check. Although county officials estimate the stray population at about 500,000, that number is holding steady – a sign that control measures are having an effect. Miami-Dade’s animal shelter is a “no-kill” facility, meaning strays and other unwanted pets within its care are euthanized only when suffering from acute pain or incurable disease.

And to be sure, the Cat Network is a big part of that success. A grassroots organization of roughly 2,500 volunteers and donors, the Cat Network has helped facilitate the sterilization of more than 110,000 cats in Miami-Dade since its founding in 1995. 

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The Power of Partnership

The Cat Network’s TNR program is entirely volunteer-driven. “We try to empower the public, giving them the tools to make a difference,” says Charlene Grall, a member of the Cat Network’s Board of Directors and chair of its Spay/Neuter Committee. “More and more people, are becoming aware of the situation and are doing something about it.”

Under its program, volunteers – and other members of the community – receive basic information and guidance for safely and humanely trapping strays. The Cat Network loans out traps (free, with a $75 refundable deposit upon return) but many volunteers purchase their own. Stanovici, who once caught 19 in a single night, owns five.

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The TNR Process

Upon their capture, strays are transported by volunteers to a veterinary clinic for vaccination and surgical sterilization. With support from its membership and donors, the Cat Network subsidizes the procedures with low-cost vouchers accepted by any of a dozen or so private clinics countywide, or at the Cat Network’s mobile clinic, dubbed the “Meow Mobile.” The vouchers, at just $40, are a fraction of the national average of $200 for neutering and $400 for spaying at traditional clinics.

 

Compassionate Care

But low cost does not mean reduced care, insists Lory Nelson, operations manager for the Cat Network’s Meow Mobile. ”We’re not a machine shop; this is high volume but high quality.” Nelson, who oversees a staff of three full-time technicians, conducting as many as 35 procedures a day, says the animal’s wellbeing is always paramount. Complications are extremely rare, she says. 

 

After recovering from surgery (typically 48 hours for males and 72 hours for females) cats who appear highly socialized may enter the Cat Network’s adoption program, but most are returned to the location of their capture and released. Volunteers are advised to obtain permission before capturing – and releasing – strays that inhabit private property.

Grall says the TNR approach to feline population management strikes an important balance between those who argue that strays should be left alone and those who would simply trap and euthanize. “You do hear people say ‘what you’re doing (TNR) goes against Mother Nature,” she says. But so does the alternative.” Stanovici agrees: “Some people would just ignore the problem. But when they stop to think, and really understand what we are doing, and why, they usually come around.”