Volunteers who help run Austin’s community cat programs asked the Travis County Austin Animal Advisory Commission on Jan. 13, 2025, to sponsor a TNR working group and to pursue operational changes to make Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) more efficient and accessible.

Lauren Nesmith, a community volunteer working on TNR requests, told commissioners that more than 600 open requests exist and that only about 15 to 20 people are regular trappers. She described a multi-step process volunteers now use: locating requests via a public-facing form, consulting a volunteer-managed Google spreadsheet, signing up through a SignUpGenius page that lacks filters, and waiting for a manual transfer of assignments from “open” to “assigned.” Nesmith said volunteers often bypass the official system and rely on Facebook or Nextdoor because the spreadsheets and sign-up tools are not mobile friendly.

Wendy Weiss and Deborah Rowe, also volunteers, described fieldwork and post-surgery logistics. Weiss said trapping often happens the day before or morning of surgery, with cats taken to the “Caddy Shack,” a small climate-controlled building at the shelter where Austin Humane Society picks up and drops off cats. Volunteers log hours on paper or in separate forms, photograph and tag cats to prevent mix-ups, and sometimes house animals overnight or transport directly to clinic partners. Rowe described safety concerns for trappers (often women working alone at night), personal costs for supplies and transport, and the geographic mismatch between available participating clinics — “the three clinics that participate in the program are all in South Austin,” she said — which creates burdens for volunteers in north Austin.

Why it matters: volunteers said TNR is one of the most direct upstream tools to reduce shelter intake and that improving volunteer systems, clinic access and communications could reduce future intake and lower animal stress.

Requests and suggested actions

- Working group: Volunteers asked the commission to sponsor a TNR working group to create operational improvements and to recruit additional volunteers. Commissioners agreed to add “community cat processing” and a volunteer work group to future agendas and a volunteer commissioner offered to lead the initial effort.

- Systems and communications: Volunteers requested consolidated, mobile-friendly request tracking, clearer clinic scheduling notifications, and a more reliable way to reach community cat program managers outside business hours. Volunteers named Alyssa and Victoria at Austin Animal Services (AAC/ASO) as the current program contacts for on‑the‑ground questions but said those staff are not field trappers; actual trapping is volunteer-led.

- Clinic access and vouchers: Volunteers asked for options in North Austin to reduce travel burdens and requested clearer published guidance on when and how to use a medical voucher program (a non-emergency medical-voucher program dating to 2010 was referenced by a speaker).

Ending

Commissioners accepted the request to add TNR processing and a volunteer working group to a future agenda; Commissioner Huddleston volunteered to convene the group and staff encouraged public volunteers to meet with commissioners after the hearing to exchange contact information and next steps.