Photo courtesy Urban Cat Coalition
A cat colony in Milwaukee cared for by Urban Cat Coalition
A cat colony in Milwaukee cared for by Urban Cat Coalition
Humanely stabilizing Milwaukee’s community cat population is hard work, and Urban Cat Coalition (UCC) carries out targeted trap-neuter-returns (TNRs) on community cats with a strict no-kill policy. The nonprofit organization champions the needs and well-being of cats that are incompatible with domestic life, working with local veterinarians to spay, neuter, vaccinate and ear-tip such cats before releasing them back where they were found. Urban Cat Coalition has fostering and adoption programs as well as a “working cats” program.
UCC is one of the few organizations doing TNR work in Milwaukee. TNR is considered to be the most ethical and effective way to stabilize a community cat population, according to their website, urbancats.org. With this method, cats’ mating and nuisance behaviors are quelled, therefore slowing cats’ reproductive rates. According to their statistics, Urban Cat Coalition cared for 966 community cats in 2024, including 54 born kittens.
Upon seeing a local need for it, Jessica Gutmann founded the Coalition in 2017. Julie Krawczyk, one of the organization’s first volunteers, is now one of their most-involved members. Krawczyk had already been doing TNR on her own for over a decade, and it was not until she stumbled upon over 30 cats living in a Cold Spring Park alley when Krawcyk realized she needed more help. “I knew that my friend had started this organization, so I asked if I could join and fundraise through them for this project,” Krawczyk recalls. “I would rather have people donate to an organization than to me.”
Feline Hot Spots
Photo courtesy Urban Cat Coalition
Julie Krawcyzk of Urban Cat Coalition
Julie Krawcyzk of Urban Cat Coalition
According to Krawczyk, Cold Spring Park remains a hotspot for Milwaukee community cats, and other neighborhoods like Silver City and Riverwest have significant cat populations as well. The UCC website features a step-by-step guide at urbancats.org/tnr on how to properly carry out the TNR process and they train volunteers on how to do it. Further down that web page is a TNR request form that community members may fill out.
If the UCC encounters a cat that ostensibly wants a home and is acclimated to people, the cat may enter their foster program. Foster cats in UCC also get fixed and vaccinated before they are put up for adoption. Folks may fill out a foster application at shelterluv.com/matchme/foster/UCC/Cat if interested. “Unless you can pick up that cat, and the cat is coming up to you asking to be pet, not running away—it’s not ready,” Krawczyk mentions. “We gauge what the animal wants and if we have the space.”
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Krawczyk notes about kittens, “We find so many out there. Kittens we can bring in and make into pets; they’re still malleable and their brains can go one way or another, if we catch them early enough. We definitely need more foster homes to take in all the kittens we find, otherwise we have to make some tough decisions. Fosters increase our capacity to help.”
With their “working cats” program, UCC finds homes for community cats that cannot be returned to where they were found due to extreme circumstances. These cats are adopted to live in alternative indoor or outdoor structures like barns, breweries or warehouses. Working cats must be adopted in pairs, and they are valued for their ability to help keep rodents away. Krawczyk stresses that relocation is not always successful and is only a last resort. “We set them up in a kennel at the barn or wherever, and they have to stay in the kennel for at least four weeks. That acclimates them to their new spot so that they know where their dinner and shelter is.”
Looking for Volunteers
Driven by a steering committee, UCC is entirely volunteer-led, and in addition to fosters they are always looking for new TNR and administrative volunteers. “Honestly, we need more people doing it,” Krawczyk laughs, while serious. “It’s a lot to manage with this big of a project. We all have families and kids and full-time jobs, and we’ve just got to fit this in on the side.”
Throughout the year, UCC participates in a number of local events such as Fromm PetFest and Pet Expo MKE. Krawczyk hopes that UCC will eventually have a physical location. As of now, the organization is entirely foster based, with all adoptable animals living in foster volunteers’ homes until adopted. “We’ve got a storage unit, but other than that we’re pretty much all working out of our homes,” Krawczyk explains.“We grew really fast and we have so many fosters now, so we need a deeper bench.”
A brick-and-mortar location would mean more space for UCC to hold TNR cats recovering from surgery. To support UCC, donate to them monetarily at urbancats.org/donate or take a look at their merchandise at urbancats.org/shop. They take donated food, litter, toys, trees and other cat care goods as well.
Urban Cat Coalition shares information about their current adoptable cats on both their website and Instagram (@urbancatmke), in addition to offering tips about cat care and safety.
