Leander has just joined several other cities across our area, including Round Rock and Taylor, in formally allowing trap-neuter-return as a method to reduce cat colonies.

City council members recently passed the ordinance, which would allow feral cats to be trapped humanely, then brought in to be neutered so that they can't reproduce. The cats are then released where they were found.

TNR opponents say the practice can be inhumane because it leaves cats on the streets, but those who support it say it's the best way to reduce the population without euthanasia.

After hearing residents increasingly talking about cat colonies on city streets, council members debated the issue for months, brought in experts and tried to figure out how they could handle such a program.

"I have one very close to my house, some cats that live in a drainage area. So that brought my attention closer to home," Leander Mayor John Cowman said. "[The problem] was growing. Now, what happens is it will just be sustained at a certain level and most likely decline slightly over the years."

Rather than forming its own program to trap, neuter and release the cats, Leander will work in partnership with advocacy groups such as Shadow Cats.

The Austin Humane Society also has a clinic that spays and neuters 5,000 feral cats each year.

At the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter in Georgetown, director Cheryl Schneider secured grants that would allow free spaying and neutering as well. Schneider said that funding is about to run out and the shelter intends to apply for more.

"We definitely probably saw 300-400 more [cats come in] this year than last year," Schneider said. "Our hope is definitely that with an active TNR program, that we keep the number of free-roaming cats down in the communities and that we start seeing a decrease over time."