Ep 665: From One to Many: Building a Neighborhood-Based Community Cat Program with Tonya Cook, Community Cat Program Manager at Ohio Alleycat Resource
About this episode
Stacy LeBaron interviews Tonya Cook about building a community cat program and her journey in animal welfare.
"When we look at things on a neighborhood level and we're noticing patterns, noticing new colonies — when something's predictable, it's preventable." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund , OcuTrap , and The Kitten Conference . What does it look like to build a community cat program from scratch — not just logistically, but with real intention about how change happens in a neighborhood? In this episode, Stacy LeBaron speaks with Tonya Cook, Community Cat Program Manager at Ohio Alleycat Resource (OAR) in Cincinnati, about her remarkable journey from neonatal kitten foster to full-time community cat advocate, and what she's learned about scaling impact when you're a team of one. Tonya's path into animal welfare began in 2020 when she started fostering neonatal kittens with Cincinnati Animal CARE. Night feedings and fragile lives gave her a front-row seat to how many kittens were being born outside — and how few resources existed to stop the cycle at the source. That question drove her toward TNR and, ultimately, toward a complete career change. In 2022, she left behind 15 years as a professional photographer to pursue animal welfare full-time, gaining hands-on…
People in this episode
Host: Stacy LeBaron
Guest: Tonya Cook
Sponsors
Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, The Kitten Conference
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Ohio Alleycat Resource, Cincinnati Animal CARE, UCAN
More episodes of The Community Cats Podcast
- Ep 674: From One Alley Cat to 700 Spay/Neuter Surgeries a Year with Debra Magaldi, Director of CatPAWS
- Ep 673: The 42-Point Gap Between Loving Your Cat and Getting It to the Vet with Gina Fortunato, Executive Director of the CATalyst Council with Kristin Wuhrman
- Ep 672: How Mumbai's Feline Foundation Is Systematically Tackling a Million-Cat City with Pallavi Kamath, Executive Director of The Feline Foundation, Mumbai, India
- Ep 671: Saving the African Wildcat: The Race Against Hybridization in South Africa with Louise Holton, President & Founder, and Debbie Holzer, Development & Fundraising Manager, Alley Cat Rescue
- Ep 670: Bridging the Gap Between Vets and Community Cat Caregivers with Dr. Kevin Lynch, DVM, Veterinarian, Author, and Founder of The Moriches Hospital for Animals
- Ep 669: 10 Years of Community Cats Podcast: A Conversation with Stacy, Kristen, and Mike
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