Stanford Cat Network History

The Network was founded in 1989, in response to concern for the health and welfare of the University's growing homeless cat population. The population of homeless cats on campus had reached an estimated 1,500. The initial solution proposed by the University was to trap all the cats and convey all animals lacking a collar to the Santa Clara County Humane Society where they would be killed. Cats deemed adoptable would be held depending on space.

A group of volunteers, with the assistance of the Palo Alto Humane Society, developed a plan offering a humane alternative to proposed eradication. Most of the volunteers had already been acting to trap, spay/neuter, and vaccinate the cats on their own. But by forming an organization, these people developed a plan for a long term solution to the problem of abandoned pets.

The founding members of the Stanford Cat Network presented information and research on the management of homeless cat populations to University representatives. Together, the Network volunteers and the University came to the decision that the best long term solution was to implement a trap, spay/neuter and release program. In 1989, this strategy had already begun to gain support as the most effective and humane method of controlling homeless cat populations. The Stanford Cat Network was one of the first organizations to promote this strategy, which has since become a national model.