Published on:  
Dec 30, 2015

How can our shelter manage to return cats to field when we don’t have the staff to take them back?

Dear Million Cat Challenge, My shelter doesn’t have the manpower to return cats to their neighborhood after neutering. How are shelters handling the workload for the “return” in Return to Field?

This aspect of Return to Field Programs should not be underestimated. It can be time-consuming and expensive for shelters to dispatch staff to return cats to their original locations. Shelters have a variety of ways they get cats to back where they belong, including using enforcement staff, paid program staff, and volunteers.

One shelter uses a Facebook page and daily emails to recruit volunteer drivers, and another uses   a shared Google document to coordinate the rides. The volunteers sign up on the Google doc to pick up the cats based on when and where the cats need to go.