The Belvedere Animal Welfare Fund supports organizations and programs that address population control for cats and dogs through project and capacity-building grants. At Coastal Humane Society, the grant will be used to strengthen the shelter’s Community Cats Program, which assists caretakers of feral colonies and low-income households with spay/neuter surgeries and rabies vaccinations. 

The creation of the Community Cats Program last year followed the successful application to the Belvedere Animal Welfare Fund to subsidize the spay/neuter voucher program.

Since its founding, 123 vouchers have been issued, though only 46 have been redeemed, as trapping cats is often a difficult and time consuming process for colony managers and animal control officers (ACOs).

The 2015 Belvedere grant will go to hiring a Community Cat Program Coordinator who will implement an outreach and trapping program to trap more cats and increase the number of vouchers redeemed through the program. The coordinator will also work with area ACOs to research local colonies, and train a corps of volunteers in the safe handling and trapping of feral cats.  

Chris Wolff, Coastal Humane Society’s Director of Programs and Community Relations, is pleased that the Community Cats Program will be strengthened.

“We are so pleased to have received funding from the Belvedere Animal Welfare Fund to support the Community Cats Program,” Wolff said. “We will have the opportunity to learn and observe best-practice TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) methods from groups such as the Humane Society of the United States, feral feline groups, and other shelters. We can then in turn recruit and mobilize a dedicated group of volunteers who will assist in trapping efforts in our local feral colonies.

“The program is aimed at reducing the number of homeless cats, leading to healthier outcomes for these colonies. We wouldn’t be able to do this without some dedicated staff time, which has now been provided through this Belvedere Animal Welfare grant.”

The shelter will also be partnering closely with the Humane Society of the United States to obtain additional humane traps and to serve as a mentee group with other shelters in Maine.