For many, the presence of the free-loading, free-ranging feral cat population on campus has become a nuisance. With the ever-fickle challenge of population control and without an exact tally of all resident cats, concerns over what to do next are widespread.
In the dwindling days before the holidays, as most students salivate over the promise of Thanksgiving delicacies and pine for familial comforts, George Rogosa lays down a bountiful feast for friends.
Feline friends, that is.
'Tis the season, after all, of nondiscriminatory sharing.
But for some, the presence of the free-loading, free-ranging feral cat population on campus has become a nuisance. With the ever-fickle challenge of population control and without an exact tally of all resident cats, concerns over what to do next are widespread.
For Rogosa, the cats that roam Main West Campus are more peaceable than pesky. The adjunct professor of physics assumed feeding responsibilities by accident.
"There was a lady in the math department who put food out for them daily. One day, I made the mistake of asking her what happened on the weekends," he said. Rogosa, who often works on Saturdays, offered to help out on weekends when she was unable to. When the woman left Duke, her legacy was left for Rogosa to uphold; he's been at it ever since. The three "regulars" at the Physics Building even have names: Bubba, a stout black-and-white male, a mottled tortoiseshell named Poopsie and a red tabby called Orange.
"I can afford to buy cat food, so I do, and I come in every day," he said. "They like to eat Chef's Blend."
"Cats are known as being very good hunters," Fadely said. "It is a topic we are interested in since they kill many more songbirds and other wildlife than people like to admit. Our concern is that they're being fed, but there isn't anything being done to control their population." DUGI has yet to solidify any plan of action. But Operation Catnip, a Raleigh-based nonprofit that specializes in spaying and neutering feral cats, has already implemented its program on campus. The "trap-neuter-return" program, or TNR, has succeeded in spaying and neutering hundreds of Durham-area cats, as well as vaccinating them and finding homes for new kittens. Each cat's left ear is cropped to identify it as sterile. Catnip representatives initially wrote letters to former President Nan Keohane concerning the issue; Keohane responded enthusiastically. Facilities management agreed to buy traps and set up feeding stations around campus, and for each cat sterilized by Operation Catnip, Duke agreed to make a donation. Trapping feral cats was accordingly included as one of the facilities management supervisor's duties, according to a 2000 Duke Dialogue press release. But efforts to coordinate DUGI's goals with the monthly off-campus Catnip clinics are thus far nonexistent, leaving the issue essentially ungoverned. "I think the problem with us is that we have no idea how to get started," Fadely said. Likewise, it remains unclear if current efforts to turn cats over to Operation Catnip are University-wide. Medical center employees like critical care nurse Helen Cook, unaffiliated with facilities management, are involved with Catnip's TNR efforts and assume most of the responsibility for their sterilization. So far, the three physics cats, five Free Electron Laser Laboratory cats and a group of Chapel cats have been sterilized, along with dozens and dozens of others. But whether or not the entire campus is being included in TNR is indefinite. Also under scrutiny are the cats themselves. Some students and faculty alike wonder if they truly pose a problem, especially when it comes to threatening wildlife. "First and foremost, these cats don't catch or chase anything," said Donna Ruger, staff assistant in the physics department. "God knows the squirrel population on this campus is enormous--I don't see why there's a reason to get rid of them. All the ones here [at the Physics Building] been spayed and neutered." Meanwhile, Rogosa makes sure that at least a portion of the loosely estimated 100-cat horde is fed. He cited the issue as "controversial" and explained that he did not wish to stir up further contention. "I'm not the authority on the cats," he said. "I think the administration just doesn't want to make some big ruling." Looking to the future, Rogosa hopes someone new will step up where he may leave off after this coming spring semester. "I've already started to ask around," he said. "Does anyone want to feed the cats?"
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