By Raylee Foster | Staff Writer
Cat colonies at Baylor have evolved over the years, but a consistent goal for both the environmental health and safety department staff and a local nonprofit animal clinic has been controlling the population through spaying and neutering.
According to the campus cats’ caretakers, Baylor provides a home to over 100 cats on campus.
Dennis Nolan, a member of the environmental health and safety staff, said cats have long been a part of the university’s environment. The organized colonies evolved as a way to better care for the cats and ensure the safety of students. Cats, when left to their own devices, can create problems for the community.
“Cats have been on campuses for decades and, pretty much since Baylor’s been here, there have been cats. We have to keep control of the population of cats that are living on campus,” Nolan said. “If we don’t, they’re just going to have more kittens and create more issues.”
Nolan said issues caused by stray cats include spreading diseases, overpopulating and fostering an environment that may attract other animals. Baylor has paired with student organizations and local clinics to best address and further prevent these issues.
The cats have developed feeding strategies to prevent other animals and insects from getting into their food. Controlling the population is one of the primary goals of the environmental health and safety staff, Nolan said.
“What my office has been doing is working with the student organizations [and] working with the cat folks with Animal Birth Control to have a process that can work effectively on campus,” Nolan said. “Universities have found that if you spay and neuter [cats] and put them back where they were, they’ll actually control the cat population in the area.”
Carrie Kuehl, staff member of the Animal Birth Control Clinic, said getting cats fixed is one of the goals for their nonprofit. Last year, the clinic fixed 11,238 animals, and Kuehl said she encourages pet owners to fix their pets early on.
“We try to catch people who have kittens, and puppies, when their pet is 4-5 months old because thats the best time for them to have that surgery,” Kuehl said.
Animal Birth Control Clinic works with Baylor cat colonies to administer vaccinations and fix the cats on campus. Kuehl said they work closely with Baylor’s Pre-Veterinary Medical Association and will be involved in a cat catching on Monday, Feb. 27. She said she believes the majority of cats on campus are not “strays” as many people view the term, but are cats that were once loved and ran away.
In addition to working with Baylor cats, the clinic works with cats that are owned in the Waco area. Kuehl said many of the cats they work with have owners who love and care for them. The Animal Birth Control Clinic works to educate new pet owners on what is necessary to properly care for their cats, especially people who did not grow up with animals in their household.
“We feel that people want to do what is best for their pets, sometimes they just need a little bit of extra help or extra information,” Kuehl said. “We do that by making sure its affordable, whether it’s just low price or by providing them free when they have that funding.”
Kuehl said if a cat has a left ear that is clipped, it is a TNR cat — or Trap-Neuter-Release cat. This means it is being cared for and can be left where it was found. She said she encourages anyone who sees a cat that does not have the ear clipping to trap it and take it to a clinic to be properly cared for.
Khuel also said she encourages people who are safely catching all stray dogs to check them for chip tracking devices.
With Baylor colonies, Nolan encourages students to keep their distance, as tempting as it may be to stop and interact with them.
“We discourage anyone from getting near them because they’re feral, and generally they don’t want to be too close to people; they have been acclimated to run away from people,” Nolan said.
