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Prison inmates aren't the only ones doing time on Rikers Island. For nearly 20 years, Capt. Gloria Murli of the city Correction Department has tended to hundreds of feral cats that live in colonies scattered about the 10-jail, 400-acre facility in East Elmhurst, Queens. This weekend, Murli, captain of security personnel, will celebrate the end of the first phase of the department's landmark trap-neuter-release project that successfully returned 201 feral cats to managed colonies on the island and found homes for 35 adoptable kittens. "As long as there's a food source, you're going to have cats there, like it or not, so you might as well have a managed situation," said Bryan Kortis, 44. He's a documentary filmmaker and executive director of Neighborhood Cats, a city-based nonprofit group dedicated to the project and feral cat education. "You're going to have less fighting, less smell and no kittens," he said. No taxpayer money The returned cats are then provided with regular food and shelter, which at Rikers Island is estimated will require 11 tons of dry food a year. The project, approved by the city last year, was in limbo when budgets were slashed after the events of Sept. 11. But in a rare show of unity, the Center for Animal Care and Control, the ASPCA and Humane Society of New York joined forces with the Correction Department. "It's been considered the largest TNR project to be undertaken in a single facility anywhere in the country," said Gail Buchwald, director of the ASPCA Cares program. In the end, it didn't cost city taxpayers a dime. The animal welfare organizations provided free veterinary care, medical supplies and mobile spay/neuter clinics, and found corporate sponsors to donate food and supplies. 'Out of cats' For now, Kortis said, they've "run out of cats." "It's the only method proven to be humane and effective in controlling feral cat populations," Kortis said. "The lower the feral cat population, less cats go into the shelters and more cats in shelters get adopted." To help support the long-term care of cats
on Rikers Island, you can donate to the Rikers Island Feral Cat Fund, c/o
Neighborhood Cats Inc., 2565 Broadway, No. 555, New York, N.Y. 10025, or
visit the Web site www.neighborhoodcats.org |
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Felines feel free at
Rikers