This article was made in collaboration with Rachel Weng.
Tucked among the brick pathways, buzzing scooters, and campus fields of Georgia Tech is a quieter, fuzzier community. These consist of those with soft paws and watchful eyes. The Georgia Tech Campus Cats have become quite a beloved icon of the Institute in addition to Buzz and the Ramblin’ Wreck. They have quickly gained popularity among the students and many have started to care for them. While these cats may charm students and campus pedestrians, they also affect the urban ecology and species management.
The Georgia Tech Campus Cats Program started in 2001 with a mission to humanely manage the feral cat population on campus. They do so through a method called a trap, neuter, and release (TNR) program (Budd, 2024). Volunteers trap the cats, get them spayed or neutered, and then return them to their original location. This method helps control the population while allowing the cats to live out their lives in familiar territory. Over the years, the program has grown into a tight-knit community of students, staff, and alumni committed to the well-being of these feline residents (Budd, 2024).
Since Fall 2023, Campus Cats have become more active and involved in supplying food and water. According to data gathered through iNaturalist, the most common cat sightings have been East campus with 14 sightings, Tech tower with 11 sightings, Central campus with 8 sightings, and Tech Parkway with 8 sightings. These are followed by West campus and the retention pond with 6 sightings. And lastly, the recycling area with 4 sightings, and the student center with 2 sightings.
Feeding stations are often placed around areas the cats are sighted in and monitored to ensure they stay healthy without becoming overly dependent on humans. Volunteers are encouraged to post on the iNaturalist community page and follow ethical practices to minimize environmental impact. And come springtime, aka “kitten season,” the population can temporarily increase as new litters appear, aligning with the national trend of increased feline births due to longer daylight hours and hormonal cycles (Mulkey, 2024).
Unfortunately, as lovable as they are, free-roaming cats are considered invasive species, and known as non-native animals that can disrupt ecosystems. Studies show that domestic and feral cats kill billions of birds, mammals, and reptiles each year in the United States alone (Arnold, 2023). Even well-fed cats may instinctively hunt, which threatens local wildlife, especially in urban greenspaces like Georgia Tech’s EcoCommons and Retention Pond areas.
This creates a paradox: the cats are part of the Georgia Tech experience, yet they challenge the ecological balance. The TNR strategy used by the Campus Cats Program helps address this issue. Research into TNR programs shows promising results. For example, two Australian TNR studies showed that there was a 30% reduction in cat numbers over 2 years, and a 50% reduction over 5 years (Spehar & Wolf, 2019). This highlights TNR’s potential effectiveness when consistently implemented. However, the success of TNR often depends on the percentage of cats sterilized and the community cooperation to be effective. This makes Georgia Tech’s ongoing effort important to long-term population control.
If you spot a cat on campus, you should try saying hello from a distance, especially if you are allergic, but don’t try to pet or feed them unless you’re a trained volunteer. You could also volunteer with the Campus Cats Program to help with feeding, data tracking, or TNR operations by joining their GroupMe – GT Cat Pics. Or if you feel particularly attached to a campus cat or multiple, consider adopting! Some of the cats are friendly or young enough to be rehomed. Listings can be found on the GT Campus Cats website at https://www.gtcampuscats.org/. Lastly, know that you can spread awareness simply by educating others about responsible cat ownership to help prevent more stray animals.
Georgia Tech’s cats remind us that even in a high-tech environment, nature finds a way to sneak in. It lives in how we understand and coexist with all living things, even those with whiskers and tails.
Sources Cited
American Bird Conservancy. (n.d.). Cats | Invasives. American Bird Conservancy; American Bird Conservancy. Retrieved April 7, 2025, from https://abcbirds.org/threat/cats-and-other-invasives/
Arnold, C. (2023, June 6). Cat-astrophe. NOEMA; Berggruen Institute. https://www.noemamag.com/cat-astrophe
Budd, A. (2024, June 3). Cat-alysts of community: Georgia tech campus cats | news center. Georgia Tech News Center . https://news.gatech.edu/features/2024/05/cat-alysts-community-georgia-tech-campus-cats
Campus cats list. (n.d.). Georgia Tech Campus Cats. Retrieved April 7, 2025, from https://www.gtcampuscats.org/campus-cats-list
Georgia tech cat sightings. (n.d.). iNaturalist. Retrieved April 7, 2025, from https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/georgia-tech-cat-sightings
Mulkey, S. K. (2024, March 18). Kitten season is out of control. Are warmer winters to blame? Grist. https://grist.org/science/kitten-season-animal-shelter-cat-wildlife/
Wolf, P. J., Rand, J., Swarbrick, H., Spehar, D. D., & Norris, J. (2019). Reply to crawford et al.: Why trap-neuter-return(Tnr) is an ethical solution for stray cat management. Animals : An Open Access Journal from MDPI, 9(9), 689. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9090689
