Anyone who spends time walking around campus can notice the abundance of stray cats on campus. Without spaying or neutering the stray and feral cats, each animal has the potential to produce 15 offspring each year. The potential for the cat population to grow significantly in the spring - when there's already too many on campus - makes the issue of what to do with the cats an even bigger one than it has been in the past.
To address the issue, DePauw students and professors are working towards a solution by starting a trap, neuter and release - or TNR - program for the stray and feral cats around campus and the city of Greencastle.
Dr. Lee Roberts '00, a veterinarian who came to speak to a group of students about the cats, said that the cats have been a problem since she was a student here.
Other universities across the nation have also had this issue, according to Alley Cat Allies, a national organization dedicated to the treatment of feral cats. These universities include the University of Texas at Austin, University of California at Davis, Texas A&M University and Stanford University.
"The university can only do so much," senior Olivia Carmel said, who is using the efforts to help the stray cats to create an official DePauw Alley Cat Allies club. "I think it's the duty of both students and Greencastle residents to take this on."
"In order to have an effective approach to the campus cat problem, we need the entire community to be on board with getting the cats spayed and neutered," Roberts said.
English literature professor Ellen Bayer has helped oversee this endeavor.
"This is a way to stabilize the [cat] population," Bayer said.
The benefits of TNR programs do not stop with the decrease in the number of stray and feral cats that will be on campus and throughout the community.
"Their lives will be better," Roberts said.
She pointed to the serious health effects that constant pregnancy has on the cats and as a result, the kittens that they produce. Maternal cats can lose their front teeth from calcium deficiency and other health effects occur from stress.
In addition, both males and female cats have higher odds for cancer when unneutered or unspayed.
"I think it's important to get involved in this, especially with the absence of the Putnam County Humane Society," Carmel said.
Roberts stressed the importance of knowing that all of the results will not be immediate.
"It's going to be an ongoing thing," she said.
Bayer recognizes that this is an issue students on campus are aware of, but have not been able to address.
"The students on campus care about the cats," Bayer said. "They just don't know how to help them."
The first round of TNR occurred Thursday morning as three young cats were trapped and taken to be neutered, vaccinated and ear tipped for future identification. If students are interested in helping out with this cause, they can join the Facebook group 'DePauw Alley Cat Allies.'