Summer 2023

he common female domestic cat ( Felis catus ) reaches sexual maturity at just four months of age. After impregnation, her gestation period is around sixty days, and she may give birth to between four and six kittens. And she can do this up to four times each year (some sources say five).That’s a minimum of 16 new felines per year. Supposing that half of those kittens are female, and they maintain the same cycle without intervention: now you have an additional 128 mewling kitties on your hands.Yikes. MariaVillagómez is on a mission to interrupt that cycle.This Greenfield High School English teacher has been capturing feral cats and kittens in South Monterey County for several years and has a network of volunteers who foster the kittens and then find loving homes for them. The adult cats are neutered, vaccinated and returned to their hunting grounds.Villagómez has recently formed Our Neighborhood Pet Project (ONPP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to breaking that cycle and improving the lives of both cats and humans. “Rural areas like South Monterey County don’t get the resources that meet the need,” Villagómez says. “Animal control doesn’t deal with cats, and shelters won’t take them. So, someone with a cat problem, like a barn full of feral cats, can’t call animal control.” Over the years, she’s become so well known in the community that police officers now give Villagómez’s phone number to complainants. Cats captured by Our Neighborhood Pet Project in cages after a spay/neuter clinic in Greenfield. They will be released to their previous environments, thus breaking the cycle of excessive reproduction. Photo: Maria Villagomez T