Cat crisis prompts Hofstra Law student to launch rescue initiative

Photo Courtesy of Athena Dawson

Claudia Canmen, a student at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, started the Campus Cat Initiative, which aims to spay or neuter the over 40 stray cats living on campus and give them forever homes. The project began when Canmen found a stray cat on campus; she later named this cat Harvey. She was taken aback by the sheer number of cats on the campus and decided to take action.

Canmen turned to social media to spread information on her personal Facebookabout the organization’s plans to match the cats with foster homes, expressing their need for donations. That post garnered support, and the Campus Cat Initiative  received over 275 cans of cat food donations, traps and pounds of dry food. Community members have even volunteered to foster some of the cats on campus. Tender Loving Cats (TLC) has created a link to a PayPal and Amazon wish list for the program.

“I think what really sparked [the Campus Cat Initiative]even more ... I found out that when Harvey found me, he had already been on campus for a month, his owner passed away from COVID, and his family dumped him on campus,” Canmen said. 

Through TLC, Canmen spearheaded the Campus Cat Initiative, taking on the title of program coordinator and tasking herself with tending to the multiple neglected colonies on Hofstra’s campus. 

With the permission of the University, Canmen was able to officially work on the initiative to spay and neuter all of the cats on Hofstra’s campus. Since then, Canmen began holding scheduled feedings for the animals and created a plan for a mass trapping. Fellow law student Aridana Muniz and TLC volunteer Lisa Landers, have also been working with Canmen to take care of the cats on campus.

The Campus Cat Initiative’s current mission is to take care of the cats’ health and find some of the non-feral cats forever homes. Muniz says that she ran into Canmen and they began talking about the cats until she offered to help with assisting in the feedings.                                               

“I feel bad because there are so many cats out there,” Muniz said. “At that point I didn’t know if anybody fed them. I was like yeah, I will help you with whatever you need.” 

Canmen has a background in working with felines. In her free time, she works off campus with TLC handling adoption cases and fostering cats that have been brought to the shelter. She started working with TLC at the beginning of the pandemic.

It seems as though the COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a rise in animal adoptions: TLC was the only shelter on Long Island to stay open during the pandemic, and handled 500 adoption applications in this year alone. When the president of the organization turned to social media to ask for additional volunteers, Canmen offered to be a foster mom.

“I know COVID has affected a lot of people negatively, but I have to say if there was any bright side to look at for me, it’s the fact that if COVID had not happened, I would not have been involved with TLC, and I would not have been taking care of this colony right now,” Canmen said.

Despite their busy schedules, these young women still find time to focus on the Campus Cat Initiative.  

“It’s hard only because we have really tight schedules and we have so much work at the law school,” Muniz said. “I think the one thing we look forward to every day is feeding the cats after class.”

After fostering a cat through the organization, Landers also began working with TLC. She joined the TLC adoption committee and helps with the trapping, neutering and releasing (TNR) for the Campus Cat Initiative. She has also been taking care of some of the feral cats that have been trapped on campus before they go to get checkups. 

“Our philosophy as a rescue is we want to find these cats their forever homes, not just homes for now ... [giving them to an adopter] who might give them back is not to anyone’s benefit. So, we are extremely transparent with adopters in all regards possible [as to] whether the cat is not well socialized or the cat has medical problems,” Landers said.

In terms of long-term goals, the founders of the Campus Cat Initiative want to create a spay and neuter clinic, but they are still looking for fundraising to launch this program. 

Canmen plans on officially starting the club after she finishes this semester of law school. However, the University does not want students in the club to handle the cats unless they are TLC volunteers.

“My dream would be to get everybody involved in some way,” Canmen said. “Whether it’s keeping a lookout for [the cats] ... [or] getting excited about feeding [the cats] and educating other people.”