Cat colonies in the Bronx from Jasmeet Sidhu on Vimeo.
The lack of a full-service animal shelter in the Bronx has prompted some residents to create “cat colonies” in their neighborhoods where they feed and care for feral cats in their own backyards.
Currently, only Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island have a full-service shelter contracted out to the not-profit Animal Care and Control that accept animals, offer animal adoption, and provide necessary veterinary care and animal sterilization.
In late September, Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed to increase the agency’s funding by 77 percent to nearly $12 million by July 2014, after a highly critical audit from the City Comptroller’s office found a shortage of medical staff that compromised animals’ health in these shelters.
The funding will not create new animal shelters in the Bronx or Queens, but instead will expand services at animal receiving centers in those boroughs. Those centers only take in animals and do not provide adoption services or medical care. Animal Care and Control received about 35,000 cats and dogs in its facilities last year across the city, a decline from over 40,000 in 2003.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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I live (as the name implies) in the Bronx and have my entire life. It has gotten unbelievably distressing to see how many cats have been abandoned and how many have grown into feral colonies. Just last week I rescued a “dump” left in my lobby – which turned out to be a Snowshoe and ill. Happy to say he has become a new member of our family; sad to say that because someone just dumped him rather than found him a home, he must be segregated for three months from his housemate and must be retested in three months for FeLV and FIV, and he got the daylights beat out of him in streetfights.
We always had a shelter and that was closed many years ago. Since then the problem has grown. The Bronx’s urban gardens have become safe haven’s for these cats, and one of the poorest populations per capital on the east coast has taken them under wing.
So, cudos to my fellow Bronxites for feeding and sheltering these guys.
Just as an FYI, the ASPCA runs a TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) for rescuers of feral colonies. Check out their website for more info. While costly and difficult, if a united effort is made, we can stave off futurue feral population explosions.
I am a trained in TNR-trap-neuter-return. 2 years ago by the group NEIGHBORHOOD CATS. I was able to successfully TNR over 6 cats in the Northwest Bronx 2 years ago in 2009. The ASPCA NO LONGER offers it’s mobile van spay/ neuter program and it is PROHIBITIVELY expensive to try to TNR on my own. I applaud our local Councilman Oliver Koppell’s efforts to increase funding for Bronx programs, but the Bronx REALLY needs (and deserves) and ADOPTION CENTER and not just a “drop off” center for Bronx stray cats and dogs to be euthanized in Manhattan. glennbronx@live.com
there should be a law to ban cats in stores…
I applaud those who take care of the feral colonies. Everybody else has turned their backs on these kitties. The Bronx needs a no-kill shelter. The Bronx needs to become a more animal-friendly place too.
WOW WHARE CAN I GO TO GET ME SOME OF DAT PUSSY
I’M looking 2 go to VA to look for a job. Maybe gone 2-3 wks .I have 2 cats that r my babies and I am looking for a place I can Tke them to to be tken care of until I come back. Does anyone know of a place I can connect that does that ? I need a address, n phone number to do my research thank u