Trapping them, feeding them, getting them to a vet for spaying, neutering, and vaccines, making the tough decision to euthanize, constructing safe and warm outdoor living spaces for them, worrying about them, keeping probably way too many of them—it’s all part of helping cats who may not have a home or anyone to care about them.

“We love what we do,” says Corning resident Rich Graham. The “we” includes his wife, Audrey, and Carmela “Carm” Bertron, who lives in nearby Hornby. Carm, as Rich explains, is his mentor in the business of TNR—trap, neuter, return—which means taking cats, sometimes feral, from outdoor colonies, having them spayed or neutered, then returning them to those colonies.

“People are worried about whose cats they are,” Carm says. “Probably no one’s.”

And that’s the problem.

Colonies of homeless and ownerless cats are everywhere—sometimes in really inappropriate and dangerous locations (kittens being born in a concrete cavity and accidentally cemented in, for instance)—and when the females aren’t spayed and the males aren’t neutered, animal numbers increase exponentially. Girl kitties can become sexually mature as early as four months old; cats can have as many as four litters per year, with anywhere from one to ten kittens per litter.

Go ahead—do the math.

The philosophy behind TNR is that spayed/neutered cats are healthier—sometimes even friendlier to people, there is less fighting amongst the colony members, and, since an established colony often will not readily accept new members, the numbers in existing colonies stay static because there aren’t kittens. Short of finding homes for all the cats in any given colony, keeping the population controlled and the cats as healthy as possible is the next best thing.

The alliance between Rich, Audrey, and Carm began in 2019 when Rich realized there were some cats living outdoors about a block away from his home.

“People were feeding them, but it was cold,” says the retired corporate pilot for Corning Inc. He says he doesn’t remember exactly how he and Audrey met Carm, but they got some traps from her and proceeded to start helping the cats. It wasn’t long before they were involved with another location having thirty-five cats.

“The problem was huge,” he says. “It took a year, but we got it cleaned up.” He remembers one cat in particular “came up to me and begged for help. It was skin and bones.” That cat had to be euthanized.

“If you just feed them and don’t fix them…” Carm says, a little exasperated.

She is a retired elementary school teacher, and laughs that she “went from helping students to helping cats.” It was an October night in 2009 when she became aware of some homeless cats in an alley. She started trapping them in the spring of 2010, getting them spayed and neutered, and, fifteen years later, “I’m doing over 200 per year.”

“I pretty much fund myself,” Carm says, but does do some fundraising with other people and organizations. “People think I can get grants, but I can’t because I don’t have a shelter. [Anyway] I don’t have time to write grants. I’m too busy trapping, getting them to the vet.”

She also has seventeen of her own cats.

“Mine are all misfits,” she says. “That’s why they stay.”

Rich and Audrey have twenty. That’s maybe why Audrey uses the acronym TNK, which stands for trap, neuter, keep, to describe what they do.

One of the logistical problems of maintaining a successful TNR program is that there are no guarantees when you might be able to catch a cat. That makes it hard to make and keep vet appointments.

“When you’re trapping a colony, they get wise,” Rich says. He has resorted at times to a drop trap—Carm describes it as being “like Dennis the Menace with his box and string.”

“You wait until they’re hunched down over the food and eating,” Rich explains. He admits he has “the determination and patience to trap the most elusive feral cat, but she has the ‘know how’ to make it all come together on many fronts.”

She does. Carm works closely with the East Smithfield-based Animal Care Sanctuary—they offer spaying and neutering clinics four days a week. She has a vet friend from Cornell who helps by holding clinics through his nonprofit, FARVets. Carm’s nonprofit, TLC TNR—find it on Facebook at TLCTNR or contact her at [email protected]—also schedules cats for spay and neuter with Humane Society of Schuyler County in their Shelter Outreach Services clinics, and with her personal vet office, Towne and Country. She mentions other organizations that offer spay and neuter clinics—Spay Neuter Save Network of Rome, PA, Finger Lakes SPCA in Bath, Barn Cat Outreach in Cohocton, Hornell SPCA, and Chemung County SPCA. The city of Corning provides some funding as well, to support Rich and Audrey’s Corning-based efforts. But cats don’t know political boundaries. Rich mentions a dozen kitties from the Addison area that were “on my radar.”

“Carm has such great connections it appears she will be able to find spay and neuter clinic slots for all twelve over the next month. Also, winter is not a great time for recovery, so she has the ability to board them post-surgery easier than we [can] right now, as our home is off limits to unvaccinated cats because of the kittens who had distemper being here in November. My role may include a bit of trapping if the owner needs assistance and maybe some transport.”

And those kittens born in the concrete cavity? Four were rescued from it—one died suddenly at ten months. Missy, the mother, lives at the cat shelter Rich put up for her and others.

“We tried to keep her at home but she wanted no part of indoor living. Water is very important to her in this freezing weather, and she goes to drink as soon as I put in fresh water twice a day.

“Please remember that I am only one small part of TNR operations,” Rich continues. “We work together and support each other. Carm is demanding in what she expects and rightfully so, it brings results. It reminds me of the precision planning and coordination so important in my military and civilian flying. Carm, especially, then my wife and myself are just part of a giant challenge being tackled by shelters everywhere.”