Washington Humane Society Launches New Program to Help Solve Feral Cat Overpopulation
CATNiPP Program Will Significantly Expand Spay/Neuter Efforts for Outdoor Cats in the District

Washington, DC– The cat is out of the bag: For National Feral Cat Week, the Washington Humane Society (WHS) announced that it is launching an aggressive new program to help tackle the District’s feral cat overpopulation problem and improve the lives of the thousands of feral cats in the city. Through CATNiPP, the Cat Neighborhood Partnership Program, WHS will significantly expand its efforts to trap feral cats around the city, spay or neuter them to prevent unwanted breeding, and return the healthy and safely tagged cats back to their outdoor homes.

"The launch of our new CATNiPP program represents a major milestone for our Good Home Guarantee to find a loving home for every healthy and temperamentally sound animal who enters our shelters within the next five years,” said WHS Executive Director Howard Nelson “We are very excited and certain this innovative program will improve the lives of cats in DC by targeting neighborhoods most in need and by working hand-in-hand with the members of the community.”

In addition to reducing feral cat overpopulation, CATNiPP addresses the challenges faced by property owner’s surrounding the presence of stray and feral cats; all while treating the cats in a humane and ethical manner.

Through CATNiPP, WHS employs a management method called Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). TNR works because it addresses the root of the problem – the breeding. In TNR the cats are humanely trapped, taken to a hospital where they are neutered, vaccinated and generally examined. The cats are also “eartipped.” This is a simple procedure where a portion of their ear is cut to signal that they have been sterilized and vaccinated by a veterinarian. After treatment the cats are then returned to their outdoor home to live out their days in a managed colony. They no longer reproduce and the certain types of behaviors that are sometimes a nuisance, like fighting, spraying and yowling are dramatically reduced.

Since the drastic pet overpopulation problem is the root cause of most animal abandonment, neglect and suffering, WHS makes every effort to ensure that as many dogs and cats are spayed and neutered as possible. WHS offers the only low-cost spay/neuter clinic in the District of Columbia—serving animals that are adopted, returned to owners and those belonging to members of the community. Stray and feral cats are often the product of human owned cats that are either abandoned or allowed to roam free. Those that are not neutered produce litters of untamable kittens. Unless the breeding cycle is addressed, it will continue unchecked with an exponential increase in the numbers of outdoor cats throughout the District’s neighborhoods.

For more information on CATNiPP, please call the media contact above or Bridget Speiser at 202-723-5730 (x 234)

Please visit our web site for information on WHS and the programs offered: www.washhumane.org

The Washington Humane Society is the oldest animal protection agency in Washington, D.C. Since 1870, WHS open door policy has served homeless, lost, and abused animals in the District of Columbia; providing protection from cruelty, shelter from the elements, and a second chance at a loving home. No call for help goes unanswered, and no animal is ever turned away.

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