The plight of a “loving cat” bounced between shelters and the streets has created a stir online and alarm among the animal rescue community.
In early January, a cat showed up at a North Side resident’s door. He was taken in and then surrendered to Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh [HARP] shortly after.
HARP – the largest nonprofit animal shelter operating in the region – returned the cat to the neighborhood, where he then appeared at a neighbor’s doorstep. They took him in and named him Mowgli. After taking him to a vet and confirming he was healthy, he was put into Pittsburgh Hill District Cats’ care and the local rescue connected him to a foster parent.
PublicSource spoke with multiple sources, some of whom declined to be named, to confirm Mowgli’s story.
In a Facebook post calling for someone to care for Mowgli, Rivky Blumberger, director of Pittsburgh Hill District Cats, described him as an “outgoing” cat who “seeks out” human company. “[Mowgli] thrives on human interaction and craves attention from everyone he meets,” the post states.
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Blumberger and others think that cats should be returned to the street only if they’re feral or other options have been exhausted, and worry that the practice could endanger friendly cats who have never lived outside.
“This wasn’t an isolated incident; many rescuers we know have taken in cats that were dumped on the streets by HAR,” stated another Facebook post detailing Mowgli’s story, sparking more than 80 comments, many recounting negative experiences with HARP.
HARP staff say releasing cats with friendly temperaments complies with policy, which assumes some may be escaped pets. “Even if they are friendly, we are hoping that they will be able to find their homes when we put them back because a lot of times the cats get out of the house by accident,” said Ryan Bridges, HARP’s community cat coordinator.
Trap-neuter-return and return to field
The nonprofit HARP has an operating budget of approximately $10 million according to recent IRS filings, and has a contract with the city permitting it to bill up to $1.125 million in a two-year period for caring for or euthanizing pets seized by law enforcement or animal control.
It operates in a field in which there are competing philosophies.
When treating cats brought from outside, many rescue groups follow trap-neuter-return [TNR] practices. According to the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty, a feral cat should be trapped humanely and taken to a veterinarian to be spayed or neutered and vaccinated, then returned to its previous colony or neighborhood.
“When people bring [feral] cats to shelters, the best thing to do is to fix them, vaccinate them, and return to field,” Blumberger said.
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TNR cats are usually ear-tipped to indicate that they have already been spayed or neutered, to avoid trapping cats that have already been treated.
Concerns arose for some about HARP’s TNR practices when people noticed cats being returned that they felt were adoptable and not accustomed to living outside, especially during winter months. A stray cat, unlike a feral, is socialized and can live indoors, meaning many are good candidates for adoption.
HARP staff said the cats put up for adoption are cats with microchips whose owners did not claim them after the shelter contacted them. If cats come in without a collar or registered microchip, they will return the cat to the neighborhood in which it was found, hoping that it will return to its owner.
Blumberger said this practice can be “detrimental to the cats because friendly cats don’t have survival skills.”
Angie Fry, assistant director of operations at HARP, disagrees. Even friendly cats are safe outside, she said, because “their natural instinct is if they are within a 2-mile radius of where they live, or where their colony is, they will go back there, so they know where to source food, water and shelter from.”
The policy of returning healthy cats without identifiable owners to the outdoors, practiced by HARP, is known within the rescue world as “return to field,” and is another strategy to manage the outdoor cat population. It’s an alternative to fostering or adopting, often practiced due to space constraints.
Return to field is “not used a lot across the country,” said Stacy LeBaron, a Vermont-based former cat rescue professional and host of the Community Cats Podcast, adding that it’s mostly practiced “where overpopulation is a bigger issue.”
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Oakland TNR Coalition, another small rescue in Pittsburgh, tries to release cats only when absolutely necessary and does not return to field friendly cats. “We don’t do a lot of the [return] because we do try to rehabilitate,” said Lydia Swanson, the Oakland group’s founder and executive officer. “TNR is for the cats that can’t go inside.”
Perspectives differ on best practices around returning cats.
“It’s not a black and white question,” LeBaron said. “It comes down to, what is [a shelter’s] specific mission and purpose.” She said smaller rescues might make careful determinations with each individual cat, while larger shelters may not be able to do the same due to a higher volume of incoming animals.
HARP follows a few main criteria when determining what to do with a cat. “Temperament is not one of those criteria,” Fry said, adding that they look at whether the cat is in good body condition and has a good coat, which is determined by their veterinary staff. Fry said HARP ultimately looks to determine whether the cat was “thriving outside.”
HARP uses the address given by the finder to determine where the cat will be released. “There’s a 2-mile radius from that in which I can choose a safe location to return a cat,” said Bridges.
Local rescues impacted
Some staff at smaller animal rescues feel they have to shoulder the burden of HARP’s returned cats, despite having less resources. “We’ve been noticing [this] for about two years,” Blumberger said, adding that Pittsburgh Hill District Cats has now taken in friendly cats that were microchipped by HARP.
Some rescuers say HARP might be returning some cats that would be particularly vulnerable in the wild.
In October, Oakland TNR Coalition found a young kitten with a microchip while working to catch a colony of kittens in the North Shore, and Swanson thought “this is so strange, he’s so small.”
They discovered the kitten was previously with HARP through word of mouth and were able to obtain HARP’s records. Swanson said the cat was only 3.8 pounds and five months old when they took him in. Releasing a cat of this age and size is troubling, Swanson said.
HARP officials say they typically start returning cats to the field after they are five months old.
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“Five months is what we use because that is the peak of social maturity,” said Fry, adding that a younger kitten could potentially be rehabilitated into a friendly cat even if they are feral.
Following an inquiry from PublicSource about this kitten’s treatment, HARP officials said the release was an “oversight.” The organization pledged to conduct an internal review of the organization’s kitten placement protocols and implement additional training, “emphasizing the importance of comprehensive health evaluations and thorough consideration of individual needs.”
“We sincerely regret any unintended lapse in our procedures and recognize the importance of addressing such matters promptly,” wrote Michele Frennier, director of marketing at HARP.
Swanson said this is just one example of Oakland TNR Coalition capturing cats previously surrendered to HARP. “It’s happening a lot and to more [rescues] than just us,” Swanson said.
Most of the cats that are surrendered to HARP are not being released. “In 2023, we took 3,700 cats in the year and only 232 went back outside,” which is only around 6%, said Fry. The shelter can house up to 150 cats at a given time.
Rescuers say that HARP could work more closely with other local rescues to find placements for cats rather than returning them to the field.
“They don’t make an effort to build relationships with other rescues that could help them,” said Tim Lydon, former HARP employee and founder of Harmony Dog Rescue.
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“They’re very hard to get in contact with in terms of small rescues reaching out to them,” Swanson agreed, “so many small rescues [are] out there that are willing and able to help, that want to have a better relationship with them.”
Fry said the organization’s ultimate goal is for cats to return to their owners. “We don’t necessarily reach out to other rescues to say, ‘Hey, this cat’s adoptable’ instead of TNR,” she said. “Our belief is that this cat was thriving outside, this cat either has a caretaker or belongs to somebody and will go home.”
Delaney Rauscher Adams is an editorial intern and can be reached at delaney@publicsource.org.
This story was fact-checked by Pamela Smith
