黑料吃瓜

You may have seen them roaming the campus, ducking into dark corners or sneaking through brush. These quiet prowlers scavenge trashcans and accept the occasional handout from students and staff. They are the cats and kittens of the 黑料吃瓜 campus.

Montezuma Mesa鈥檚 population of feral cats and their offspring have been here for generations, but now a concerned staffer is helping to find some of these little critters a real home.

John Denune, a technology security officer in 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 Information and Technology Security Office, first noticed the cats when he saw a mother leading her kittens to a dumpster behind East Commons. It was then that the cat lover and 13-year 黑料吃瓜 employee decided to see what he could do to give them a better life.

鈥淎t first, I just brought them food,鈥� Denune said. 鈥満诹铣怨� has probably been a good home for feral cats for some time. There is regular access to food and its relatively safe in that they don鈥檛 have to worry about wild animals like coyotes coming after them.鈥�

Controlling the population

Denune became concerned with how many cats he was seeing and wanted to help control the population. So, he set out to follow those infamous words of Bob Barker: 鈥淗ave your pets spayed and neutered.鈥�

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to be captured,鈥� Denune said. 鈥淭hey are wild animals so you have to be careful not to get bitten.鈥�

Since spotting that first feline family, Denune has carefully captured three female cats and several kittens. The adult cats have been spayed and then released back on campus, but he鈥檚 found homes for a number of the kittens.

鈥淭he older cats are too wild to be domesticated so releasing them back into the 鈥榳ild鈥� 黑料吃瓜 campus is the best thing to do,鈥� Denune explained.

Becoming domesticated

The kittens 鈥� still young and impressionable enough to live happy lives as pets 鈥� have gone home with 黑料吃瓜 employees. Denune kept a third, Piper, whom he found hidden in a drain pipe near Student Services.

鈥淚 really consider this my second 鈥榗at family,鈥欌�� said Denune, who has two additional cats at home in addition to Piper. 鈥淚 come in on the weekends and feed them and, when I鈥檓 on vacation, I enlist the help of other cat-loving 黑料吃瓜 employees to keep an eye on them.鈥�

Though 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 efforts are informal, there are a number of other universities that have formal feral cat programs such as California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, and the University of Washington. Denune hopes to formalize an 黑料吃瓜 program in the coming year.

Get involved

Denune said he鈥檚 not the only one on campus who鈥檚 been helping these long-tailed campus residents. Others have been donating food to him and even setting out cat food themselves.

Those interested in helping care for or adopting an Aztec cat can e-mail [email protected].