MONMOUTH COUNTY – The Monmouth County SPCA recently partnered with Mazza Recycling to launch their new feral cat colony.
The colony is currently present at Mazza Recycling’s Tinton Falls facility and the area was designed with a cat shed, food, water and bedding with the goal to provide safe shelter for the cats living at the 55-acre facility.
The MCSPCA stated that there are many feral cats in Monmouth County and they use their Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program to address the feral cat population in a humane way.
“As the lead animal welfare organization in the county, it is our responsibility to continue steering the charge in the TNR world by not only performing the actual task, but by bringing public awareness of its importance from a humane platform,” MCSPCA Spokesperson Lindsay Sanator said. “Five years ago, not one municipality in Monmouth County was actively engaged in any TNR program. As of the now, we have been able educate and partner with 16 municipalities who have passed TNR resolutions.”
The feral cats are trapped, spayed or neutered and returned to the community to live in managed colonies. Although, some kittens and “friendly” stray cats are put up for adoption at the MCSPCA, helping to reduce the population of feral cats in the area.
Not only is the goal of the feral cat colony to give the cats a safe home, the initiative also controls the rodent population at the facility. Mazza Recycling collaborated with the MCSPCA to develop this idea as a more natural means instead of using poison which can inadvertently affect wildlife.
“It is only fitting that one of our largest county businesses, Mazza Recycling, who has set a bench mark on ‘green’ initiatives with their innovative recycling facility, would be so in tune to the idea of helping control the community cat problem by establishing a colony on their grounds to save lives, stop over breeding and control rodent population by natural means,” Monmouth County Commissioner and Executive Director of the MCSPCA Ross Licitra said.
Currently, the MCSPCA have trapped, spayed, neutered and vaccinated eight cats from Mazza Recycling’s property and will continue to set traps on their property in the next coming months.
The MCSPCA plan to continue this program and partner with other Monmouth County businesses so that they can save more lives while forging working relationships with other leaders in the community.
