Babylon Village, nonprofit team up to tackle feral cat problems with trap, neuter and return event

Two years after the Village of Babylon proposed a ban on feeding feral cats over resident complaints, the village is teaming up with a local cat rescue for a mass spay and neuter event to address the village's feral feline issues.

On Saturday, South Shore Feral Care, a Lindenhurst-based nonprofit that specializes in providing medical care to injured and sick community cats, will launch a trap-neuter-return initiative at the Locust Avenue municipal lot. The rescue has eight volunteers who will trap up to 40 feral cats in locations throughout the village, evaluate them, get them vaccinated and spay or neuter them before returning the animals to their original locations. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Melissa Kantor, who runs the rescue, said she was called by a resident in April about an injured cat in a Babylon Village neighborhood. She saw there were 17 unneutered cats living in the community.

“I saw them and said, ‘oh, that’s a problem,’ ” she said, adding that a few homeowners on the block had been feeding the cats. Others had complained to the village about the cats urinating and defecating on their properties.

Kantor said she approached Mayor Mary Adams with her proposal for the TNR event and got the green light. She said TNR reduces nuisance behaviors and improves the health of the cats.

“Once the cats are fixed, they’re not going to roam, they’re not going to spray,” Kantor said. “It’s a whole different atmosphere.”

Adams and village officials took heat when they proposed a feral cat feeding ban in 2024. The law was never enacted.

Adams told Newsday the program allows the village to address its cat problem “in a humane, respectful way.”

The nonprofit is paying for the event through fundraising and state subsidies, but Kantor said TNR on a wide scale can be costly and most rescues lack the funding for it. Surgery on each cat can cost anywhere from $150 to $350, she said.

Asked if she would consider having the village pay for similar TNR events in the future, Adams said she doubted it.

“I have to think of all of the taxpayers,” she said. “It is not part of our budget.”

Linda Stuurman, past longtime president of Wantagh-based Last Hope Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation, said towns and villages need to incorporate TNR into their budgets.

“We’re not holding the municipalities responsible for this feral cat problem that is only getting worse,” she said. “It’s a big expense for these little organizations to take on.”

Residents on the Babylon block where South Shore Feral Care first intervened — and where 18 cats were trapped in advance of the event — have mixed views on their cat community.

Luisa Corrigan said the cats are regularly all over her property.

“Our patio furniture is getting sprayed, our front flower bed ... they think it’s a litter box,” she said. “The odor is just horrendous.”

Corrigan’s neighbor across the street, Sheila Mahoney, said she enjoys them.

“To me this is the closest thing I get to wildlife is seeing the cats in the neighborhood,” she said. “I don’t see them as a nuisance and they get rid of rodents ... this is 2026 and there’s so many other things to be upset about. I don’t get it.”

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.