Trap, Snip, Repeat: Cat Overpopulation and Gendered Labour in a Feral Sterilisation Programme
Trap, Snip, Repeat: Cat Overpopulation and Gendered Labour in a Feral Sterilisation Programme

Summary/Abstract: Cat overpopulation in Toronto, Canada, is a serious and growing problem. Small, and frequently isolated, groups of volunteers work in a variety of capacities to help mitigate the large numbers of litters produced by stray and feral cats. One such organisation is Toronto Street Cats. This volunteer group works with the help of the Toronto Humane Society to operate a monthly trap/neuter/release (TNR) programme. Groups of caretakers look after registered feral cat colonies and capture cats of breeding age. Once a month these cats are sterilised, vaccinated, treated for parasites, and microchipped in an evening-long marathon. Volunteers in veterinary medicine (registered veterinary technicians [RVTs], veterinary assistants and veterinarians) comprise the medical staff who provide treatment and perform the assembly-line surgeries. Post-surgery, the cats are taken by the volunteers to a recovery facility and are then released back to their registered colonies, once they have fully recuperated. The volunteers within the caretaker groups are almost exclusively women as are the medical personnel who perform surgery and assist pre- and post-operatively. Informed by ethnographic and secondary source data this article provides a glimpse into the work lives of the women who care for the feral cats living amongst us in Toronto.

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