Based on our experience dealing with various groups, most animal rescue organizations in the city are doing their best to help abused and neglected pets with incredibly limited resources—they can't be everywhere at once, as much as they'd like to be. But the Guardians of Rescue have realized there is one segment of the city's population that is generally on the streets at all hours: the homeless. And they've begun recruiting homeless people to help monitor for pet abuse and guard cat traps.
“In the middle of The Bronx, I wouldn’t want a regular volunteer staying out until 4 a.m.,” explained Robert Misseri, the group’s president, to the Post. “If I have a 70-year-old volunteer set a trap, I don’t want her out all night watching it.” But he reasons that homeless people "will be up anyway. The homeless are always on the streets, and wherever there are stray people, there are stray animals.” So the group has started The BARTER (Bringing Animal Rescue to Every Resource) initiative—homeless people get rewards for helping the groups.
Those rewards include gift cards to places like Subway and clothing donations; in exchange for guarding a kitty cage all night, they'd get a $25 gift card, plus an additional $25 card if a cat is nabbed. Any homeless people that can bring information on animal abusers can get up to $500 in gift cards. “They are our eyes and ears,” Misseri said, noting they are especially helpful at identifying people selling puppies on street corners in “marginalized sections of Manhattan.”
“A lot of us on our own would want to become involved, but getting food for it is a bonus,” 22-year-old homeless man Gregory Beylin, who has been living on the street for about four years, told the Post. “It gives people a reward.”
That's not the only new stray kitty initiative going on: feral cats in Washington Heights can now ditch the styrofoam boxes and hang out at a five-story “Kitty High Rise” at the Morris-Jumel Community Garden in the neighborhood. It's one of eight locations that have been chosen for the innovative outdoor shelters. To learn more information about the initiative or to volunteer, check out NYC Feral Cat Initiative.
