ORANGE PARK – An all-volunteer nonprofit organization formed to care for and sterilize growing feline colonies finally has its fangs.

After incorporating in November, Community Critter Care of Clay County – otherwise known as 5C – has officially begun larger scale operations to trap, sterilize and release feral and abandoned cats and educate area residents on how to live in symbiosis with them.

And although they’ve only sterilized approximately two dozen cats so far, the overall goal of the group of about a dozen is to stop colony growth so the cats can die out naturally.

“We’re trying to blend the community, and community cats, so that each exists in a balanced way,” said Jane Hawley, 5C secretary. “If the cats are bothering the people…we deter that and help the residents learn how to effectively live with the wildlife.”

They’ve got their work cut out for them.

Currently, it’s kitten season, so it should come as no surprise that colonies that aren’t sterilized will have a few new additions soon. The group is based primarily out of Orange Park, where the group has its roots, but it has begun to extend into other areas, such as Middleburg.

The group formed in 2014 after an eventually tabled Orange Park Town Council ordinance that would have made it illegal for colony caretakers and residents to feed feral colonies drew fierce criticism from animal lovers throughout the town.

Eventually, a number of those most vocally against the ordinance banded together to form the nonprofit.

The group meets monthly to identify new areas to trap. However, Hawley tends to keep those locations secret so those who wish to do the cats harm can’t find them as easily.

She said there are those who believe the best method for controlling cat populations is to kill feral cats. She said, however, when the cats are killed, other cats move in to fill the vacuum.

By sterilizing entire populations, the cats inhabit the same area and die off naturally.

“We find that trap neuter and release is the best way to go in fighting an overpopulation, and we have an over population in Clay County, but unlike other people that want to annihilate them, we’re trying to fix the situation all over Clay County,” Hawley said.

The group goes trapping on Tuesday evenings. Hawley takes the trapped cats home and cares for them until the next day when she can take them to the nonprofit low-cost clinic at Clay Humane, which does free sterilization on Wednesdays. As part of the vet clinic visit to be spayed or neutered, the feral cats also receive a cut to the tip of their left ear. This identifying “tipping” is a universal sign in the TNR – trap, neuter, release – community that shows the cat has been fixed and is under the care of a colony manager.

The Town of Orange Park lists 5C on its website as a resource for residents who need information on managing an active cat colony.

The town also rents out humane traps to assist in their work. Previously, former code enforcement officers used those traps to catch and subsequently neuter feral cats.

Because that program was run off grant money and therefore was not sustainable, Town Manager Jim Hanson said 5C fills a niche in the community that otherwise would be vacant.

“In the long run, the management of the colonies requires a constant presence from community and volunteers that understand how to work with those cats,” he said.

As the group gains more traction in the community, they hope to expand their efforts further into Green Cove Springs and other areas in Clay County and ramp up their trapping and community education efforts.

“I think more public education, the [trap and release] team is kind of on a roll, and they’re going to get busier and busier and educating the public that spaying and neutering is the right way to go and helping them to do that,” Hawley said. “It’s just educating them to be responsible for their animals.”