Then, it organizes teams of local volunteers and experienced rescuers to catch any strays in the compound and send them to a pet hospital for sterilization. Zhou Yun, who lives in Shixin and volunteers with the project, says the foundation’s first task in each community is to get the residents onboard by explaining the benefits of TNR. One of the first neighborhoods to test the method has been the Shixin community, a group of six-story walk-ups built in the ’80s. Local authorities have partnered with the government-backed Lujiazui Community Foundation to roll out TNR projects in residential complexes. “And there’s no specific government department to manage stray cats.”īut in Lujiazui, the eastern area home to Shanghai’s skyscraper-laden financial district, the TNR campaign is already underway. “It’s mainly because there’s no special fund to support the work,” says Wang. The Shanghai Center for Animal Disease Control, meanwhile, is testing a mobile app designed to “reduce any threats to the urban environment … caused by the increasing number of stray cats.” Revising local regulations to make officials responsible for “catching, sheltering, claiming, and adopting stray cats and cats without owners” is listed as a priority municipal project for 2020. The furor has turned cats into a hot-button policy issue for the Shanghai government. Though there is no evidence felines have passed on the coronavirus, cats are known to be carriers of zoonoses including rabies, toxoplasmosis, and ringworm. The arguments have intensified since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as rumors began to spread that cats could be vectors for the disease, according to Zhang, the former teacher. “They know I wouldn’t turn my back on those poor babies,” says Zhou. When new litters of kittens are born, residents sometimes put them in a box and leave them outside her front door. Most of all, people complain the food Zhou and others leave out attracts yet more cats to the compound, exacerbating the problems. Noise and scratching are common issues, as are dead strays appearing in the parking lot. Zhou Yun, a middle-aged cat lover who lives in another apartment complex in eastern Shanghai, tells Sixth Tone she has frequently been the target of her neighbors’ ire. Many Shanghainese resent these extra guests - and the kindhearted residents who care for them. Local authorities estimate there could be as many as 3 million stray cats in Shanghai - around 20 for each residential community in the city.Ī woman plays with a stray cat in Shanghai, Aug. Many spend hundreds of yuan per month on cat food alone.īut little has been done to manage the city’s street cats, and the result has been a rapidly growing population. Nearly every public park and apartment complex has its own resident pack of strays, lovingly pampered by local residents like Zhang. Local conflicts have become so common, the authorities have been forced to step in - launching new cat-management regulations, a citywide stray surveillance app, and local neutering schemes.Ĭats are everywhere in Shanghai. Similar disputes have erupted across Shanghai over recent years as the city’s felines have multiplied.
“Every time I install a cat house or put out food in the compound, I … fear some residents will object and confront me and my family,” she says.
She’s so concerned about her neighbors discovering her pro-cat sympathies, she refuses to reveal her full name to Sixth Tone. Zhang, a former teacher in her 50s, feels stuck in the middle. Those bold enough to lay out kibble in broad daylight risk verbal abuse from passing locals. On one occasion, the cat haters demolished the shelters during the night, forcing the cat lovers to rebuild them in a discreet spot behind some shrubs.