Take a tour of campus and you may notice bowls of cat food strategically placed outside Old Union, the News Service and the greenhouses by the biology department. The vittles are provided by members of the Stanford Cat Network, a group of faculty, students and staff who care for the 150 semi-wild felines who roam the grounds.
The Network was formed in 1989, after University officials announced plans to turn over the growing number of stray cats to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Fearing the tabbies would be euthanized, campus catlovers rallied and promised, in writing, to care for every stray.
On the eve of its 10th anniversary, the Network claims success. Founding member Carole Hyde, a project associate at the Institute for International Studies, says volunteers registered 500 cats in 1989. Today’s population is down by 70 percent, thanks to a program of spaying, neutering and, when possible, finding homes for their charges. Better still, universities from Texas to Virginia have started programs modeled on Stanford’s.
