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How to Clear 500,000 Feral Cats From New York’s Streets How to Clear 500,000 Feral Cats From New York’s Streets
(1 day later)
All was hushed just before dawn when Debbie Gabriel double-parked at her usual spot on Lefferts Avenue, a neighborhood of single-family homes and low apartment blocks in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Almost as soon as she turned off the ignition, street cats in all shades and sizes started pouring out from an alley behind a tall iron gate like extras in a zombie movie.All was hushed just before dawn when Debbie Gabriel double-parked at her usual spot on Lefferts Avenue, a neighborhood of single-family homes and low apartment blocks in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Almost as soon as she turned off the ignition, street cats in all shades and sizes started pouring out from an alley behind a tall iron gate like extras in a zombie movie.
A dozen cats in all stood there, softly purring for their breakfast, as Ms. Gabriel set out bowls of food and water on the pavement.A dozen cats in all stood there, softly purring for their breakfast, as Ms. Gabriel set out bowls of food and water on the pavement.
It was a familiar scene for Ms. Gabriel, who has been a caretaker of numerous cat colonies over the past 23 years. “There are days when I don’t want to get up,” she said. “But when I think of their little faces — if they can stand there at 4:30 in the morning and wait for me, the least I can do is show up for these babies.”It was a familiar scene for Ms. Gabriel, who has been a caretaker of numerous cat colonies over the past 23 years. “There are days when I don’t want to get up,” she said. “But when I think of their little faces — if they can stand there at 4:30 in the morning and wait for me, the least I can do is show up for these babies.”
Ms. Gabriel feeds the Flatbush cats one meal a day — she’s 61 and has retired from working in hospitals, and it’s all she can afford. She also tends to their medical needs as best she can, occasionally taking the sickest and most injured ones to a sympathetic veterinarian. Ms. Gabriel is only one of many dedicated colony caretakers in the neighborhood, but Flatbush is teeming with feral cats, and there is only so much she can do.