Tom, a cat aside of the Brown Library colony, lounges in entrance of the McGlothlin Campus Center along with his radio transmitter collar (Photo by Maci Weathers)
The Feral Cat Initiative has begun a brand new chapter as it has remodeled into its personal scholar organization.
In recent years, ACU has been identified to have particular feline residents roaming its campus grounds due to a program known as the Feral Cat Initiative which helps to feed and neuter campus cats.
Before Fall 2023, the Feral Cat Initiative was a program that the college helped fund and was primarily overseen by the groundskeepers and a graduate scholar.
The driving drive behind this new chapter is Anna Oliver, the director of FCI, and Josh Hollwarth, the assistant director of FCI.
Oliver, a junior psychology main from Queens, New York, stated she was impressed to start out the membership after a heart-wrenching incident involving one of many campus’s favourite cats.
“Our beloved cat, Snowball, was found with her entire face caved in from a tumor,” Oliver stated. “I already wanted to get the Feral Cat Initiative to become more than just an Instagram account and more than just Josh and I, but after that experience I was like, ‘OK, we need to have this become a formal student organization to be able to really take care of our cats.’”
Hollwarth, a junior psychology main from Longview, stated there are a lot of variations between the final technology of the Feral Cat Initiative and this new technology.
One distinction for this technology is that they’re partnered with All Kind Abilene, which is the nonprofit organization that simply took over the animal shelter. The shelter helps run FCI’s Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program, medical fostering and extra.
Hollwarth stated the TNR approach used now’s far more efficient as they’ve extra individuals and sources to observe the cat traps and ensure they’re catching the cats they’re presupposed to be.
“We also have a position in our officer team called community cat coordinator, and she kind of oversees and mediates between our organizations,” Hollwarth stated.
With round 40 members, the membership goals to supply extra than simply basic take care of the campus cats.
With particular initiatives corresponding to their “Adopt a Cat” program, college students can “adopt” a campus cat and sustain with their vitals and character.
Although this initiative is concentrated on defending and caring for cats, the membership’s mission extends past cat welfare because it additionally fosters a way of group amongst its members.
“Although we are for the cats, we are for the students as well, and I’ve made a lot of great friendships from the club,” Oliver stated.
As the membership works to care for the beloved campus cats, they attempt to serve for instance of compassion and empathy inside the campus group.
