Colony Cats helps feral felines in Franklin County
There’s a soft spot in Mona McKinniss’ heart for neighborhood cats.
The scrappy ones, the lonely ones, the ones with rough edges who are a product of their sometimes-gritty environment.
It’s not that she doesn’t love dogs, because she does.
But cats, in McKinniss’ view – especially those oft-neglected ferals – get a bad rap, and she’s on a mission, in her own not-so-small way, to make sure they get the attention they deserve.
“My heart just breaks more for the cats, because they seem to be misunderstood,” McKinniss said. “They just don't get all the attention I think they should.”
The operation, known as Colony Cats, began a quarter century ago as a rescue operation on a dead-end lot McKinniss describes as “a big dumping ground for dogs and cats.”
It quickly morphed beyond merely rescuing animals to actively working to prevent overpopulation.
“We quickly realized that rescue was not the entire answer; spay/neuter was going to be the answer,” she said. “So we’re really doing a lot of the trap, neuter, return of the feral cats, just trying to prevent new litters.”
In the decades since its establishment, Colony Cats, staffed by hundreds of volunteers, has attended to countless animals − largely cats, but also dogs.
The business opened an adoption center in Dublin in 2009 and continues to have feet on the ground across Franklin County, responding to calls and working with veterinarians and volunteers to cover every aspect of the trap, neuter and return process.
When people reach out to the organization via email, phone or social media with complaints of strays, Colony Cats enlists the help of its volunteers to trap the animals to bring them in or find them homes.
Most of the cats are returned outdoors, “unless they’re really friendly,” McKinniss said, but the methods should keep the population in check.
The organization also does what it can to support those who choose to provide for outdoor cats − including community members who are unsheltered but have animals – by helping them to do it responsibly.
“There are so many cats out there that people just try to do the best they can, and so we try to support that,” she said. “We'll provide food for the ferals. A lot of our volunteers actually have colonies that they feed daily and take care of.”
Volunteer Shelby Furer, of Worthington, serves in various roles in the organization, from cleaning to trapping. For her, the opportunity to give back to her community, witness the giving hearts of McKinniss and her fellow volunteers, and know that she’s helping animals is payment enough.
A cat assists one of Colony Cats' volunteers take pictures for the website.
“When you take steps to get more involved past the face level and you really get to know the people that are running the organization, it's incredibly impactful and moving on a personal level,” she said, noting that working a day job with people can get exhausting after a while, but “even the cats that we encountered that aren't friendly per se, you can tell that they're grateful.”
The work of Colony Cats seems to be a kindness for all.
“When we go in someplace and we aggressively do the trap, neuter, return, before that, there's usually neighbors complaining because of all the cats that somebody might be feeding out of the goodness of their heart, but they don't realize how important the spay/neuter part of it is,” McKinniss said.
“But we get them fixed. There's almost always kittens or friendlies that we can take in, so those come off the street. And then just through attrition, the numbers go down, because you don't have more being born. It usually is very quickly noticeable by everybody that the problem is now under control. It makes the community better for the cats and for the people.”
McKinniss recently received the Columbus Fury’s SHEroes Spotlight Award for her work in the community through Colony Cats, designed to “honor and celebrate extraordinary, impactful women in central Ohio who have made a difference in their community.”
The Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation.
This article was made possible by support from the Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation, which has partnered with The Columbus Dispatch to profile those making our community a better place. Help us lift up inspiring stories of kindness by suggesting people, initiatives, or organizations to feature by emailing [email protected]. The Dispatch retains full editorial independence for all content. Learn more at Dispatch.com/Kindness.
