The Community Cats Podcast

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Ep186 - Tina Traster May 23, 2017

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Interview! Tina Traster, Award-winning Filmmaker, Writer, and Documentarian of "Catnip Nation"

"There are people taking care of community cats, but it begs the question: who is taking care of those people?"

Tina Traster is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. Her written pieces have been featured in a multitude of publications, including a regular segment for the New York Post, and her films have won awards at film festivals across the globe. She has noticed a theme of rescue, caretaking, and advocacy in her last three projects—"This House Matters," a 30 minute documentary on historic preservation in the Hudson River Valley; her award-winning memoir Rescuing Julia Twice: A Mother's Tale of Russian Adoption and Overcoming Reactive Attachment Disorder; and her current project, "Catnip Nation," a series of vignettes about feral colony caretakers. Tina hopes that the film will spark a movement towards better, more consistent legislation surrounding community cats. Tina is currently trying to raise $6,000 for the completion of the project. You can contribute to the cause at seedandspark.com/fund/catnip-nation. To learn more about the film itself, please visit catnipnation.com.

Ep185 - Rosemarie Crawford May 20, 2017

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Interview! Rosemarie Crawford, Director of Educational Programs, National Kitten Coalition

After her first experience fostering bottle babies with acute health issues, Rosemarie's colleagues realized she was a natural and nudged her towards a career in animal welfare. She worked as a vet tech in Illinois, and subsequetly became a foster coordinator. This eventually led to her current position as the Director of Educational Programs or the National Kitten Coalition, where she facilitates outreach workshops based on specific shelter needs. In this episode, Rosemarie discusses the obstacles facing kitten care and adoption in shelters, as well as the ever-present subject of avoiding burnout for both foster coordinators and volunteers. For more information, visit kittencoalition.org or the Coalition's Facebook page. To download their Kitten Nursery Manual, click here.

Ep184 - Tracie Hotchner May 18, 2017

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Interview! Tracie Hotchner, Author, The Cat Bible and Radio Pet Lady

"The point is to reach people and influence their hearts and minds in ways that are really meaningful."

Tracie is a premiere podcast presence, supporting the education and wellness of cats. She is the author of The Cat Bible: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know as well as producer and host of NPR's show "Dog Talk (and Kitties Too!)". Tracie is currently organizing the New York Cat Film Festival, which offers short films and documentaries about cats and the people who love them. The festival will travel to select cities with a philanthropic mission to raise education and funding for local rescues and shelters. As Stacy refers to her, Tracie is 'an outreach queen' who greatly values the importance of story-telling to improve the landscape of animal welfare.

To explore further, visit radiopetlady.com and catfilmfestival.com.

Ep183 - Mike Fry May 16, 2017

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Interview! Mike Fry, Founder and Senior Consultant at No Kill Learning

"The killing that takes place is harmful and costly and damaging."

Mike was raised in a family of animal welfare activists who opened the first no-kill shelter in Minnesota in 1977. After working for Fortune 500 companies in the technology field, he decided to dedicate his shelter experience to end unnecessary euthanasia in local shelters. Mike hosts Just One Day every June 11th, which provides nationwide shelters and animal control organizations the educational opportunity to practice a no-kill philosophy for one trial day. Participants are invited to change their strategies by taking the no-kill pledge. Mike also discusses the negative repercussions of killing in shelters, from high volunteer turnover to questionable shelter ethics. For more information, visit nokilllearning.net and justoneday.ws.

Ep182 - Susan Linker May 13, 2017

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Interview! Susan Linker, Co-founder of Our Companions Animal Rescue

"We've come a long way with spay and neuter in our area."

Susan is the co-founder of Our Companions Animal Rescue, a forty-three acre sanctuary in Ashford, CT. A non-profit organization with 400 volunteers, 2,500 donors and plans to double in size, Our Companions Animal Rescue prioritizes creating a low-stress environment for cats and dogs to optimize better health and behavior, hence better adoption outcomes. Susan discusses ways to do this, including using cottages as 'real life' spaces for cats rather than stress-inducing cages. She and Stacy also discuss similarities and differences between 'sanctuaries' and 'adoption centers,' and the belief that both are only pieces in the animal welfare puzzle that also includes TNR, education and public policy.

To explore further, visit ourcompanions.org and their Facebook page, or call 860-242-9999.

Ep181 - Bonney Brown May 11, 2017

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Interview! Bonney Brown, Founder and Principle Consultant of the Humane Network

"Engaging the public in our work is the key to making it sustainable."

Stacy has once again invited Bonney Brown from the Humane Network back on the show! Bonney fills Stacy in on what the Network's been up to in the past year, such as helping rescue groups to better their strategic planning, improve their live release rate, and ensure their sustainability, among other things. Bonney and Stacy also chat about how the ways we interact with cats outdoors have changed, due to the advent of cat harnesses, pet strollers, and catios, as well as how free adoption of adult cats during peak kitten season can actually help your shelter. In case you missed it, you can listen to Bonney's first interview with Stacy here. And you can check out the Humane Network at humanenetwork.org, or email info@humanenetwork.org if you have any questions for Bonney herself.

Ep180 - Jonathan Rosenberg May 09, 2017

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Interview! Jonathan Rosenberg, Founder of Tabby's Place

"I wanted to do something for the cats nobody wanted."

Jonathan Rosenberg wasn't very interested in animal welfare—or even considered himself a "cat person"—until he met Tabby. When a stray cat showed up on his porch one day, begging for food and a place to sleep, Jonathan and his wife took him in and gave him a very happy life for the next sixteen years. When Tabby was diagnosed with and subsequently passed from terminal cancer, however, Jonathan's whole life focus changed. He quit his job and started Tabby's Place, a sanctuary for special needs cats and cats in otherwise "helpless" situations. Tabby's place helps about 120 domestic cats a year and countless more community cats. Located in New Jersey, Tabby's Place boasts a large, fence-in outdoor area for cats who are too sick or needy to leave the sanctuary, an in-house medical clinic, as well as a wide scope of different programs. Jonathan describes to Stacy his journey towards becoming an advocate for cats as well as the expansion of his own ideas of how and where cats should live. To learn more about Tabby's Place, or to sponsor a cat at the sanctuary, please visit tabbysplace.org.

*Correction! Jonathan Rosenberg, the subject of this interview, made us aware of an error in this episode and we'd like to make sure you know the facts! In the intro to this podcast, we said, "Tabby's Place boasts a large, fenced-in outdoor area for cats who are too sick or needy to leave the sanctuary," Jonathan tells us this is not so. There isn't a large, outdoor area. Tabby's Place has many special needs cats, mixed in with other cats, inside the sanctuary. There are multiple "sun rooms" (rooms with three walls and a forth screened-in wall), that provide cats exposure to sunlight and fresh air. Most cats have access to these rooms.

Ep179 - Harold Rhee May 06, 2017

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Interview! Harold Rhee, Host of This is Pawprint Podcast

"Your volunteers may have skills that you never knew about. You don't really know unless you truly empower people to share their talents."

Harold Rhee is the creator and host of This is Pawprint, another animal welfare podcast! With his wife Nancy, he interviews the "heroes of animal rescue," such as Tamar Arslanian, author and photographer of Shop Cats, as well as our very own Stacy LeBaron! Stacy and Harold compare notes on creating their shows, and Harold offers encouragement to those listeners who want to start their own media endeavors to broadcast their shelters and rescues, whether it be a YouTube channel or a podcast of their own. Harold's podcast has featured mainly dogs and cats, but he hopes to branch into other species as well. You can listen to Harold's podcast at thisispawprint.com, and keep up with it on Facebook or Instagram. (Psst—Harold interviewed Stacy a couple weeks ago. Listen to her episode here!)

Ep178 - Steve Lawrence May 04, 2017

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Interview! Steve Lawrence, Co-Director of The Cat Rescuers, and Tara Green, TNR volunteer of Brooklyn Animal Action

"I think it's important for viewers to understand the kind of dedication and commitment that's required to do this work."

When Steve Lawrence moved to Brooklyn with his wife Helen, he didn't know the first thing about community cats. However, after individuals of a backyard colony started showing up at his backdoor begging for food, he began to investigate and uncover the world of the estimated 1,000,000 community cats roaming the streets of New York City. With co-director Rob Fruchtman, Steve has followed the work of four TNR rescuers working in Brooklyn (including co-guest Tara Green of Brooklyn Animal Action) for the past three years, filming them in action for a documentary called The Cat Rescuers. He and Helen are now also certified in TNR and hope to bring the film to wider audiences at international film festivals to raise awareness of community cats and to spread TNR as a global practice. If you are interested in learning more about the upcoming film, please visit catrescuersfilm.com. There, you can view the demo reel and sign up for the email list to be notified when the Kickstarter for finishing the film goes live!

Ep177 - Robin Olson May 02, 2017

Show notes

Interview! Robin Olson, Blogger at CoveredinCatHair.com and founder of Kitten Associates

"I love telling these stories because every single cat that we bring into our rescue always has something we can learn from."

Robin Olson is the writer behind the award winning "Covered in Cathair" blog, which chronicles the stores of the 500 cats she's rescued over the years. She also is the founder of Kitten Associates, which opened its doors in 2010. Located in Sandy Hook, CT, Kitten Associates started the Kitties for Kids program after the Newtown school shooting, which provided a space for any affected by the tragedy to come and spend time with the kittens in the shelter. Robin's own involvement in cat and animal welfare started when she was going through a hard time in her life many years ago, so she is very familiar with the profound healing power that cats can have in our lives. Check out Robin's blog at coveredincathair.com. You can also follow Robin's work on Facebook at facebook.com/CoveredinCatHair.

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