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Cat Lover Trying to Rescue Feral Colony in TriBeCa Needs Your Help

By Irene Plagianos | November 30, 2016 10:11pm | Updated on December 2, 2016 2:41pm
 Rescued kittens from a TriBeCa
Rescued kittens from a TriBeCa "cat colony" are now up for adoption.
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DNAinfo/ Irene Plagianos

A small colony of cats has taken up residence inside an old loading dock that runs along a multi-million dollar condo building near the Hudson River, prompting a Brooklyn casting director with a love for animals to make the little corner of TriBeCa her latest cat-rescue mission site.

"I just want what's best for the cats," said Jennifer Hunt, who keeps a rotation of rescue cat and kittens in her Prospect Heights home — caught with humane traps, she wants to point out. "They have to be taken to a vet and spayed or neutered — someone has to do it."

Earlier this week, Hunt sat patiently for three hours, from midnight to 3 a.m., hoping her catnip and sardine trail would do the trick — lure a mom cat, a kitten or one of two male cats into her metal crate. But no luck.

"Feral cats don't really come out until after midnight, they want to be hidden," Hunt said. "So I have to keep their hours."

Three weeks ago, Hunt managed to catch three kittens in one trap at the site.

While she realizes the whole setup might look strange, there aren't many passersby to witness her mission. "It's pretty desolate over there at night," she said. "It's mostly just me there." 

The building's doormen and a super are all fine with her pursuit, she says — the trap sits far enough away from the building entrance; plus, they're used to her. A couple of years ago, she trapped a mom cat and her four kittens at the loading dock. "They want me to catch the cats, so it's sort of mutually beneficial."

When the cats are "too feral," usually 12 weeks or older, Hunt will get them spayed or neutered, then return them back to the wilds of the city — a rescue process known as Trap-Neuter-Return, or TNR.  She works to get kittens adopted.

This cat-saving is not exactly cheap — so Hunt recently started a GoFundMe site to raise $1,000 for the medical expenses and other costs for the animals. She takes all the cats she rescues to vets, and often pays for the spaying and neutering herself. (The Humane Society offers free spaying and neutering, but it can be tough to get an appointment, she said)

The fundraising site, spotted by local blog Tribeca Citizen, has already raised $545, after launching Monday. And the kittens Hunt recently rescued are now up for adoption — interested pet owners can contact Hunt through the GoFundMe site.

Meanwhile, Hunt plans to keep making her way back to the loading dock, for her after-hours rescue effort. What she doesn't want, she says, is for the cats to end up in a shelter that might eventually euthanize them.

"Rescuing them is my passion," she said. "So I'll keep trying."