Not a Crazy Cat Lady: Taking Care of the Coastside’s Ferals

Thanks to its temperate climate and compassionate people, the Coastside has more than its share of homeless cats. They seem to be everywhere: sitting on top of your fence, staring into your windows, skulking under bushes, meowing at your door in hopes of a hand-out.

But what’s the difference between cats that are just homeless (having gotten lost or perhaps abandoned by irresponsible owners) and cats who are truly feral? If you have compassion for homeless creatures, are there ways to help them? And how important is spay and neuter to keep the population in check?

Jane Ganahl, who has been working for eight years on helping these largely ignored animals, will talk about the breadth of the problem, the controversies surrounding the right path to take… and will also tell some irresistible rescue stories with happy endings.

About our speaker

Jane Ganahl has been a Bay Area journalist, author, editor and arts producer for 30 years, and a coastside resident for 25. She is the co-founder and co-director of Litquake, the West Coast’s largest independent literary festival; she is also the author of Naked on the Page: the Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife, and editor of the anthology, Single Woman of a Certain Age. In 2011 she stumbled across a colony of homeless cats eating chow mein by the Main Street bridge and began sliding down that slippery slope. Coastside Feral Care was created in 2016. To date she and her partner Maggie have helped or rescued hundreds of cats.

Admission is free

We appreciate your generous donation that supports the Scholarship Fund and other community programs of the Half Moon Bay Odd Fellows. This is one of an ongoing monthly series of speakers covering topics from science, history, politics, citizenship, and more. Subscribe to our email list to get up to date information or check back here often.