On a Tuesday afternoon, Carol Manos and her crew in load more than 11,000 cat heads into a hearse. They’re paper cat heads decorated for ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. The idea is to raise awareness of the feral cat problem in Michigan.
Manos says in five years two cats and their offspring can give birth to 11,000 kittens. As for the hearse, Manos says she's a big fan of the dark comedy Harold and Maudeand it's just helpful for the job.
“I can fit like 30 cats in there in cages going to the vet,” says Manos.
Manosruns the non-profit Carol’sFerals, which traps feral and stray cats, spays or neuters them, and returns them to their home outdoors. They also take in some kittens and prep them for adoption.
Dorothy Kane volunteers for Carols Ferals. She says the goal of the program is to stop feline overpopulation and make Michigan a better place for homeowners and feral cats alike.
“They get in cat fights and they make a lot of noise at night and people don’t necessarily like all that ruckus," says Kane. "So by just spaying and neutering, you’re helping the community and you’re helping those cats because those colonies will eventually just diminish and decline.”
The ArtPrize installation will take up an entire hallway in Spectrum Health’s food court—measuring 10 feet high by 140 feet wide. The cats were decorated by Grand Rapids area kids, teens, and their parents—representing more than a hundred schools and organizations. Carols Ferals volunteer Pam Patton says they even got a few celebrities to send in work.
“We received packets back from Martin Sheen, Ed BegleyJr., Kathy Najimy, Lily Tomlin, and there’s one more that I can’t remember," says Patton. "But these will be available to purchase and the funds will go to support our mission.”
The artwork on the cats spans the gamut—there’s everything from 5-year-old scribbles to the intricate designs of a skilled artist. But the point is really to show how much 11,000 really is. Each cardstock cutout is the size of an average cat’s face.
For many feral cats, adoption isn’t possible. Pam Patton says many of them are used to surviving outside and don’t want to be tamed. And once a feral cat colony is taken to a shelter, Manos says another cat colony moves in to replace them. But by releasing sterile cats back “into the wild,” Manos says they’re actually lowering the number of cats that get euthanized in shelters every year.
“Cause there are only so many homes," says Manos. "Even if a…let’s say a pregnant cat is allowed to have her kittens, those kittens are going to come in and take place of a shelter cat that’s going to get killed because there’s not a home for that shelter cat.”
Manossays if all shelter cats were adopted today, each person in the United States would have about 50 cats. As a result, Manos says some people see them as expendable.
“’Oh it’s just another cat. Uh, yeah, throw it out,’"says Manos. "Or you know, ‘Here, somebody will take it as a free kitten.’ Or ‘Hey we can, you know, stomp it to death in the middle of our trailer park’ like Patrick Stackhouse did a few months ago and he’s about to go to trial.”
She’s talking about Michael PatrickStackhouse who faces animal cruelty charges in Grand Rapids.
“It’s really up to human beings—because we put the cats there—to do something to help them,” Manos says.
The Carols FeralsArtPrize exhibit will be displayed at the Spectrum Health food court in Grand Rapids.