Long Island towns being forced to trap, neuter feral cats

BABYLON, N.Y. (AP) - Towns across New York’s Long Island are being prompted to step up efforts to trap and neuter hundreds of roaming feral cats.

Newsday (https://nwsdy.li/2c6MkCT ) reports Sunday that the effort to keep the feral cat population down is almost all volunteer-based.

But the newspaper says municipal governments are starting to contract with nonprofit groups to get the population under control.

Babylon last month inked a $25,000 deal with the nonprofit Helping PAW to reduce the number of cats roaming the area’s backyards.

The town of Islip (EYE’-slihp) last month started a trap-neuter-return program with $60,000 in animal shelter donations.

In nearby Glen Cove, expert Joan Phillips tells Newsday the local trap-neuter-return program dropped the feral kitten population by 90 percent in three years.

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Information from: Newsday, https://www.newsday.com