When the ritzy private community of Ocean Reef in Key Largo, Florida was just beginning to grow from a small fishing camp in the 1960s, a groundskeeper brought in five cats to help control a serious rat problem. They did their job, the rat population vanished, but over time, those cats bred. Within a few decades, the cats, over 2,000 of them, had become the unwelcome residents of Ocean Reef.
After many failed attempts to control the cat population, a group of homeowners were able to come together and start a spay and neuter clinic on site. It was 1995, and ORCAT was formed. Since then, the cat population has dropped dramatically, and in a humane way. These days, there are around 350 stray and feral cats out in the community, while another 100 friendlier ones are available for adoption at ORCAT’s Grayvik Animal Care Center.
Besides being spayed and neutered, these cats are well taken care of. While feral cats don’t usually live past age five, the cats in Ocean Reef are making it into their teens. Every day, ORCAT makes the rounds by golf cart to over 70 feeding stations throughout the community, providing all the cats, and even a few other critters, with fresh food and water. Numbers and health conditions are monitored, and if something looks off, the cat is trapped and brought in for veterinary care.
Ocean Reef is not the kind of place that comes to mind when you think of feral cats. These cats live in the bushes of beautifully landscaped yards of million-dollar homes. They share this community with the rich and sometimes famous. The cats being there is enough of a shock, but the community coming together to care for them is something you’d expect even less. But I guess people always find a way to surprise you.
I shot this story last month, and I’m happy to report that it got the cover and four pages inside the magazine. And for the first time, I wrote a full-length article accompanying my photos. You’ll have to pick up a copy to read it, because I don’t feel like posting it here (you just read a summary), but you guys don’t come here for the writing anyway. Here’s a tiny fraction of the oodles of photos I took, but they’re a few of my favorites.
by Sarah
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