BELLE GLADE, Fla. — Iris Lopez is up at 6 a.m. every morning, hitting 7 different spots in her Belle Glade neighborhood to feed the community cats that depend on her.
"I've been doing it for over three years. I just love animals," Lopez said.
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Over those three years, Lopez says Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control had been visiting twice a week to perform what is known as TNVR — Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate and Return. But she says those visits have become increasingly rare.
"Then they went to every two weeks, and then they went to once a month, and now every time I call, it's like it's a waiting list," Lopez said.
Lopez brought her concerns to a Belle Glade Let's Hear It community event, where residents can raise issues and seek solutions.
Dr. Kathleen Woody, chief of veterinary services for Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, says the situation reflects a broader challenge.
"No one wants to see, you know, little tiny kittens that aren't going to make it," Woody said.
Woody says community cats — cats that live in a neighborhood where people like Lopez consistently feed and water them — represent a widespread problem that requires community-wide solutions.
"When we have all of these cats, it is truly a community problem that needs to be solved with the community. There are so many different facets and so many different populations of these community cats that we need everybody's help," Dr. Woody said.
Dr. Woody says Animal Care and Control is currently at capacity. Volunteer groups that typically assist residents with trapping and free spay and neuter surgeries are funded through a yearly pool of $350,000 the county distributes through contracts. This year's contract funding has run out, making it difficult to finance those activities in the western part of the county.
Those contracts are expected to resume in August.
In the meantime, Animal Care and Control says volunteers like Lopez should continue with their efforts, and can put down a $75 deposit to borrow a trap, then bring cats in for fixing, vaccination and release back into their community — a process that is expected to reduce the population over time.
"If we just trap cats and remove them from the population, up to six cats can come in and actually fill that void," said Dr. Woody. "So it actually makes the problem worse, so by having animals that we bring in that we sterilize, we vaccinate, we put them back into their community, they hold their territory, they hold their resources, they keep the entire population stable, so we don't have to worry about the infighting, we don't have to worry about more cats migrating in, we hopefully won't have to worry about unwanted kittens that are coming from those animals either, so it's actually better to just go ahead and be part of our trap, vaccinate, neuter, and release program, because it helps stabilize the population."
Lopez says she would also like to find more food resources for the roughly 30 cats she supports each day. But for now, she says she is glad to have gotten the word out.
"I'm happy because I want people to be aware that we do have a problem and we need help. So, I appreciate you guys reaching out. A lot," Lopez said.
If you think you can help Lopez and other community feeders in western Palm Beach County get more resources, reach out online or on social media.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
