Erin Robinson, Community Cats Program Manager at Humane Rescue Alliance

08/11/18 • 22 min

Erin Robinson admits that once upon a time, she simply didn’t know that community cats existed, let alone what you were supposed to do about them. That all began to change when she started volunteering in a county animal services facility during college in North Carolina, and when she went on to work for a high-volume spay/neuter clinic connected to Operation Catnip in Gainsville, Florida. Erin hasn’t stopped working with community cats since, and she worked with Alley Cat Allies before landing her current role as Community Cats Program Manager at Humane Rescue Alliance in Washington, D.C.

Over the past decade, Humane Rescue Alliance’s community cat programs have gone from being a small, grassroots, volunteer-based part of the organization to becoming truly mission-critical. The program offers free TNR for cats within Washington, D.C., including spay/neuter surgery, distemper and rabies vaccinations, topical treatment for parasites, and microchipping as part of their TNR packages. Erin feels that it’s important to do as much as possible for community cats’ health in one visit, as it’s likely that this will be the only touch point the organization will have with these cats.

The program is funded by donors, and includes a relocation program called Blue Collar Cats for cats who are TNR candidates, but who don’t have a safe place to return. Through this program, which has already placed 117 cats, cats are relocated to a business or homeowner who has reached out to request a cat. The program has very careful acclimation guidelines (available on the program website), and while most adopters are looking for assistance with rodent control, Erin stresses that these folks are truly giving these cats a new lease on life by adopting them. She is tracking retention and while initial results look great, Erin looks forward to reporting back on the program’s numbers in a few years to see how it’s working. A true believer in the importance of data and metrics, Erin is eager to work on collecting statistics on this and other programs to assist folks with convincing others that TNR is the right way to handle community cat populations.

To learn more, visit humanerescuealliance.org/communitycats, where you can connect directly to the Blue Collar Cats website as well.

To learn more, visit humanerescuealliance.org/communitycats, where you can connect directly to the Blue Collar Cats website as well.

Previous Episode

Pamela Merritt, Cat Advice Columnist

Pamela Merritt — better known as “Dear Pammy” through her cat advice blog — didn’t become a cat fan until she married one. At the time, she says, cats were really still second-class citizens in this country. There weren’t any no-kill shelters, and she and her first husband rescued many cats themselves. Pam learned how to be a “cat appreciator” from her first husband, and she came to realize that cats are our equals, and that our relationships with them work best if we don’t think in terms of a master-owner mindset.

Pam did cat rescue for many years, and has now written a book, The Way of Cats, subtitled “How to use their instincts to train, understand, and love them.” The book is currently available only in Kindle format, but a paperback version is in the works, as is a video channel. In the meantime, Pam also continues her cat advice blog on her website, where she tackles such topics as keeping cats off the kitchen counters. Pam feels that most “training” of cats happens naturally when we appreciate and care for cats properly. “If we do the cat a favor in terms of care,” Pam says, “then the cat owes us a favor in terms of cooperation ... and we can’t make this magic happen unless we learn how to speak and read ‘cat.’”

To learn more about Pam and her cat advice, visit wayofcats.com or follow her under “Way of Cats” on the various social media channels. You can also find her book on Amazon.

Next Episode

Danielle Bays, Director of Cat Protection and Policy, Humane Society of the United States

Danielle Bays, the new Director of Cat Protection and Policy at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), plays “Cat Protection and Policy Jeopardy!” with Stacy in this episode. Danielle is responsible for staying on top of cat policy issues all over the country, and she fills us in on current cat legislation and issues in various states around the nation, including Delaware, where a community cat bill is currently on the governor’s desk, awaiting his signature; Rhode Island, where a TNR bill got some not-so-useful things added to it along the way and didn’t make it through the legislature before it went on summer break; Wisconsin, where much discussion is happening among all the stakeholders involved in community cat issues; and Hawaii, always a hot-bed for TNR issues, where the idea of a pet food surcharge to help raise funds for spay/neuter has been put forth.

In spite of all the legislative action in these states, as well as other spay/neuter funding initiatives in Idaho and New Mexico) and declawing legislation (not all successful) in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Denver, Danielle tells us that sometimes legislationisn’tactually what’s needed. She points out that “if there isn’t anything that prohibits what you’re doing, you don’t necessarily need to make a law that actually allows for it.”

To learn more about what Danielle and the HSUS are up to in their work advocating for cats and other companion animals around the country, visit animalsheltering.org. You can also email Danielle directly at [email protected]—she’s always happy to help if anyone needs advice about situations going on in their community!