March 17, 2026
Ep 656: Building a Culture of TNR with Chelsea Winter, Community Cat Program Manager at Street Cat Hub
“You can’t possibly trap every cat. So we teach the community how to do it themselves — and give them the tools to fully sterilize entire colonies.”
What happens when a community stops trapping two cats at a time — and starts thinking in entire neighborhoods?
In this episode, Stacy LeBaron sits down with Chelsea Winter, Community Cat Program Manager at Street Cat Hub in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to explore how targeted, whole-colony TNR is driving measurable impact — including a 30% drop in kitten intake at the local shelter.
Chelsea shares how her journey from bottle-feeding neonatal kittens led her to a deeper question: What’s causing this constant flood of kittens? That curiosity turned into a strategic, data-driven approach to Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), focused on empowering community caretakers to trap entire colonies at once — not piecemeal.
With more than 50,000 cats sterilized in the organization’s history and 6,000 cats fixed annually, Street Cat Hub combines municipal contracts, mapping technology, community education, and high-volume clinic capacity to create sustainable change. Instead of working strictly from a first-come, first-served waitlist, the team targets “hot pockets” identified through shelter intake data, DOA mapping, and caretaker requests — maximizing impact in concentrated areas.
Chelsea also shares practical insights on managing waitlists, engaging reluctant feeders, navigating mixed colonies, and building a culture where TNR becomes a shared community responsibility.
If you’re looking for a scalable, collaborative model that reduces kitten intake and improves live outcomes, this episode delivers both inspiration and a tactical roadmap.
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