Operation Catnip's proactive "litter prevention" program performs 3,000 TNR surgeries each year for community cats using monthly high-quality high-volume spay/neuter clinics capable of sterilizing more than 200 cats in a single day. This program was instrumental in reducing cat euthanasia at the local shelter from 81 percent to 42 percent over 13 years. In 2012, the program was expanded to include a reactive "shelter-neuter-return" program targeting the cats most at risk of immediate euthanasia: adult impounded strays. By neutering and returning these shelter cats to their neighborhoods, cat euthanasia plummeted to 13 percent in 2012, making Alachua County the safest place to be a cat in Florida. This presentation given by Dr. Julie Levy, Director of the Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida, will demonstrate how a tiny staff, a giant volunteer pool, and a relentless will to save cats can end the use of euthanasia for population management, even in the most challenges communities. This talk was part of the Face-to-Face with Feral Freedom workshop brought to you by The Target Zero Institute and Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida.

Learning Objectives:
• Create a community profile to understand local community cat population dynamics between the field and the shelter.
• Design a program for intermittent high-volume TNR clinics using a volunteer workforce targeting cats in the field.
• Develop a collaboration with local shelters to return impounded community cats to their neighborhoods as an alternative to euthanasia or shelter crowding.

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