Seventeen-year-old Manhattan Boy Scout, Declan D., has two rescue cats in his family, so he wanted his Eagle Scout Service Project to benefit less fortunate felines. He reached out to Bideawee for ideas and ended up talking to Kathleen O’Malley from our Feral Cat Initiative (FCI), who suggested that he build winter shelters for feral and stray community cats to keep them warm, dry, and safe during harsh weather.
Kathleen briefed Declan on why TNR and winter shelters are essential to humane management of feral cats. After learning about various shelter designs ranging from easy to advanced, Declan decided to flex his carpentry skills and build insulated wooden cat shelters using a design created by FCI. He recruited six fellow Scouts to help, and under his leadership in early October, the team built three large, durable shelters. Filled with cozy straw, the finished shelters will provide warmth and safety for about nine community cats for many years.
FCI gratefully accepted these wonderful shelters from Declan and placed them with a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) community cat colony managed by Manhattan-based Urban Cat League — just in time for winter!
Bideawee would like to offer a big thank-you and congratulations to Declan and his team!
Be sure to follow Bideawee’s Feral Cat Initiative on social media to learn about our next Building Shelters for Outdoor Cats webinar.