DC plans to count all of its cats

The District of Columbia, like a lot of cities, has a cat dilemma. Stray and feral cats roam the streets, protected by neuter-and-release policies.

As cat populations flourish, scientists and animal advocates are searching for the best and most responsible way to manage them. A new initiative called D.C. Cat Count might provide some answers. It is spending the next three years counting all the cats that live in Washington and observing how they move around.

And you read that right — all the cats, including pets.

While other cities have embarked on smaller efforts to count segments of their cat populations, D.C. Cat Count, which started this week, announced it is aiming to count every cat in the nation’s capital, whether living indoors, outdoors or both.

The $1.5 million project, which is being funded by animal-advocacy groups, is a highly technological endeavor. As many as 60 camera traps, most aided by infrared sensors, will record images of outdoor cats. And a smartphone app, still in development, will allow anyone in Washington to share pictures of cats that they observe outside, or cats that they own, to build a library of as many cats as possible.

“The biggest concern is that we don’t know how many cats or what percentage of the population we’re helping, or what the true need is out there,” said Lauren Lipsey, vice president of community programs for the Humane Rescue Alliance. “And our goal is to help them all, even if they are owned.”

The data will be analyzed by Tyler Flockhart, a conservation biologist and adjunct assistant professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. He has been studying cat populations for about four years.