Volunteers work to feed community cats in Crown Heights
Volunteers have been working to try to take care of at least 17 stray community cats, which live in the alley off Kingston Avenue between Carroll and Crown streets in Crown Heights.
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Volunteers have been working to try to take care of at least 17 stray community cats, which live in the alley off Kingston Avenue between Carroll and Crown streets in Crown Heights.
Off camera, some of the people in the area tell News 12 that they are not huge fans of the cats being there in the first place, saying they have concerns they could have germs and bacteria.
"There's a lot of anger towards having cats here," said Trish Flint, who feeds the cats.
Since January, Flint and Heidi Systo, an independent cat rescuer and social media influencer, have coming to the alley every evening with wet food.
"When we first met these cats, they were starving, they were eating in the trash and it was absolutely so heartbreaking," Systo said.
The Animal Care Centers of New York City tells News 12 that shelters are at double capacity, so to them, things like this are "amazing."
So far, the cats seem to agree.
"When they see me coming, they come running around my feet now," Flint says.
"They've got beautiful, shiny coats, so you can definitely see a big difference in the quality of life," Systo adds.
The care has gone beyond just feeding. Together, the pair has trapped, spayed and neutered 14 different cats in the alley, something experts say is an important part of caring for community cats.
"If you feed cats, and you don't TNR (trap, neuter, release) them, their populations will continue to grow," Flint explains.
That is an issue, because Systo says there is currently a massive overpopulation program with community cats, and "75% of kittens born outdoors will die before 6 months of age," making population control a major goal to reduce suffering.
The only problem, is Flint and Systo have been doing this on their own time, and their own dime, so recently, they put up flyers and a Reddit post asking for help.
Despite the pushback to the cats that some in the community had expressed, they got two more volunteers within just a few days.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to get any response," Flint admitted. "And I sure did."
"No one person can do this - it really does take a community," said Systo.
