At Salt Lake Community College, students aren’t the only ones showing up to campus ready to learn.
Community cats have been found living at different SLCC campuses, causing lots of discussion.
Marilyn Briggs, a proclaimed “cat lady,” takes care of the cat colony residing on SLCC’s Miller campus. What started as weekend feeding to help the original caretaker, a former SLCC employee, turned into a daily responsibility after the original caretaker experienced health issues and couldn’t continue.
“I haven’t missed a day in five years,” Briggs said while discussing the cat colony in early spring.
Jose Loeri, a summer bridge coordinator at the Taylorsville campus, started volunteering with the cats in November after seeing a message in “SLCC Today” about helping feed the cats.
“[Volunteers] split up days and places, so we can head out and feed the cats [and] make sure that their water is warm because it’s so cold right now,” Loeri said during an interview in early spring. “When the shelters get wet on the inside or if the wrapping on the outside of the shelters is damaged […] we would be the ones that would come around and help fix it.”
The setup consists of two different shelters, made from Styrofoam coolers wrapped in an industrial tarp, for the cats to hide in. Other items include some straw and a feeding station.
Briggs commented on the problem of trying to relocate the cats off campus or taking the cats to shelters.
“They really are feral, you know? It isn’t like you can really find a home for them,” she said. “And there’s a bunch of cat people, there’s cat groups on Facebook, but everybody is so overwhelmed.”
In early spring, Briggs stated that all three female cats at the Miller campus are spayed, but the two males had not yet been neutered. Trapping was in the process to assure that all cats at Miller campus were spayed or neutered.
“Sometimes they keep other cats out, because if it’s a really stable colony, there [are] males and they, you know, make sure the other cats stay away,” said Briggs.
Utah is a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) state, which allows feral cats to be taken to a veterinarian or clinic for neutering and vaccinations, which minimize the risk of population growth and disease.
Well-kept TNR feral cat communities often pose lower consequence to the community and local ecosystems. With proper maintenance, cat colony populations can be kept stable.
To help achieve care for its cat colonies, SLCC previously partnered with Best Friends Animal Society, where Jessica Virgos used to be an employee and a civically engaged scholar. Virgos then started her own nonprofit organization, WhiskersUtah.
After creating WhiskersUtah, Virgos took over managing and assisting with the cats at both campuses, which have been well maintained over the years.
According to Briggs, the cats on the Miller campus appeared to be healthy and doing well, although she expressed concern over a Siamese cat named Lylock who had been spotted with a hurt leg. Briggs also wondered about the future of the cats, stating that she had received complaints as well as unclear verdicts on whether the Miller cats could be tended to in the same way as the colony at Taylorsville campus.
“There are arguments and thoughts on, if the cats should be fed, if they should even be around,” said Loeri. “It’s the same kind of argument that happens when it comes to cats in neighborhoods. Some people think of them as a nuisance, even though they’re not really bothering anyone.”
According to Virgos, the Miller cats are under the same agreement as the Taylorsville colony cats. In addition to the shelters and feeding station currently on site, under SLCC permission, the feral colony can be tended to for the remainder of the cats’ lives.
Briggs shared her hope of finding a student group that will oversee the Miller cat colony. The change would not only allow her to retire from the duties but also strengthen the connection between the campus community and the feline residents.
Once a student at SLCC, Loeri was not aware of the community cats until he started working at the college last year.
“I was a student here in 2016, to 2018 … and I didn’t know then that you could volunteer to help out the cats,” Loeri said. “Being staff [now], I actually have to look at my emails, so I saw the callout for [help].”
“I think people just have a preconceived notion of what, like, cat colonies are and what feeding community cats does because they’ve been taught a certain way,” Loeri continued. “They just don’t think about changing their mind or listening to the other, like, arguments for it.”
Briggs feeds the Miller cats using her own funds. She hopes regular involvement in the cats’ care from the campus community will be mutually beneficial.
“They [the students] could get donations; they could take turns feeding [the cats] … I think if it was a student thing and the campus was behind [the effort], we wouldn’t have all this hatred or whatever you’d want to call it,” Briggs said.
Loeri believes that empathy is important when it comes to discussions around cats on campus.
“You may not get anything from helping the cats or even like animals around your neighborhood or anything like that, but just knowing that you helped another living being be able to survive a little longer, because the world was cruel as it is, you know, that’s something that is worthwhile,” said Loeri.
As stated in an “SLCC Today” post, volunteers are needed: “To ensure the cats are fed and have fresh water, a rotating schedule for caregivers is used, with backups in case someone is unavailable.” There is hope that some college employees will be volunteers to maintain a consistent group through the semesters.
For anyone interested in donating supplies or monetary donations, or looking to become a volunteer, contact Gina Chase.
