Lansford Borough Council learned just how fast its feral and stray cat population multiplies in a year.

Pamela Poeldnurk of the Carbon County Friends of Animals, the cat shelter located in Jim Thorpe, used a display board and images of cats showing how one cat’s litter of four kittens can grow exponentially.

“You can see this amount of cats; it’s a lot,” she said standing next to a board crammed with images of cats. “It’s 84 cats starting for one cat in one year. You probably have more than one female out there that’s not spayed.

“Imagine this times 10, this times 20,” Poeldnurk said. “It’s a real problem and it’s not going to get any better if you don’t do anything about this. It’s only going to get worse.”

A trap, neuter and release, or TNR, program is an easy solution, and Poeldnurk pointed out the borough already has community members interested in helping the cat population.

Friends of Animals successfully trapped and fixed 37 cats in Lansford last summer, after being contacted by the borough’s code enforcement officer, Shane Monk, she said. The group also took in two litters of cats with five kittens each, Poeldnurk said.

The organization also found homes for 18 of the cats from the 37 trapped, she said. The others were released back into the community with a tipped ear, signifying the cat had been fixed, she said.

Poeldnurk proposed the organization work with those residents to set up a TNR program for Lansford, she said, and No Nonsense Neutering, a clinic in Allentown, is willing to work with the borough.

A resident-driven program, however, will still need financial assistance from the borough, as No Nonsense charges $40 per cat for its service — an amount most residents can’t afford.

Poeldnurk proposed the borough pay for a portion of the service, and interested residents could pay a copay of $15.

“They’re doing a lot of the work,” she explained. “They’re driving the cats down there; they’re driving them back. You don’t have to do any of the work, all you have to do is pay for half of the cost of the spay.

“I’m willing to help you with it. I’m willing to be a liaison between No Nonsense. I’m willing to teach people how to do TNR, because it really is important in a town like this.”

Poeldnurk pointed out that many of the cats they trapped weren’t true ferals, or wild cats, but were house cats that were left behind or released into the community.

“It would be totally up to you what you wanted to spend,” she said.

Council members asked questions about the funding and donations, medical care and vaccines the cats receive as part of the program and releasing them back into the community.

Poeldnurk pointed out that they could even set up a fund for the TNR program to help facilitate moving this forward.

Council thanked her for presenting the information. Council made no decision on a TNR program.