While New York City is known for its rat infestation, the animals that fill Fordham’s campus are quite the opposite. The Fordham cats are quite popular among students, with multiple Instagram accounts dedicated to their escapades. There are also volunteers who keep an eye on the cats, mostly retired Fordham employees. These cats’ fame, however, is not all positive.
The cats have been on campus and in the Bronx area almost as long as Fordham. Cats are far from uncommon in urban places, and college campuses are often hubs due to their lack of other wild animals and the regularity of provided food. The Fordham cats were no different, until 2016.
“The Fordham community started noticing an increased population of feral cats and kittens and alerted one of the volunteers managing the small colony,” said George Smith of Rose Hill Public Safety, “This is when the TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) program began.”
The TNR program is a method to keep the cat population minimal. Cats are found on campus, neutered and then returned to campus. This allows Fordham to keep an eye on how many cats there are, and if any are ill or injured. As of the writing of this article, there are 20 cats on Fordham’s campus.
Last week, members of the Fordham community received an email from Public Safety with information about interacting with the cats. Warning students not to “feed, handle, touch, grab, or make sudden movements toward the animals.”
Public Safety sends a similar message at the beginning of every year, primarily due to the influx of new students who haven’t interacted with the cats before.
“Since the start of the Fall semester, we have seen a couple of students who were petting the feral cats on campus and were scratched or bitten by the cat,” said Maureen Keown, director of Health Services.
If students are bitten, they are instructed to keep the area clean and covered, and in some cases, are given oral antibiotics. However, the Fordham Health Center sometimes sends students elsewhere for treatment.
“We usually need to refer the students with cat bites off campus for rabies prophylaxis,” said Keown. “Many of the cats on campus have been vaccinated for rabies, but we cannot confirm that the cat involved was one of the cats who were vaccinated so we generally send the student for rabies prophylaxis as a precaution.”
Despite Public Safety’s warning, many students said they hold no fear for the cats and plan to continue to interact with them.
“I firmly believe that if a cat attacks you, it’s your fault. If you understand cat behavior at all, you can very easily tell if they want to be pet,” said Caitlin Wong FCRH ’27, “I love that there are campus cats. I care a lot about stray animals, and knowing they have a safe place on campus makes me happy.”
But while the cats are famous to some, there are still some students unaware of them or that they cause any problems.
“So far this year, I’ve only seen one cat, and it did not look ‘feral,’” said Leah Tamasker, FCRH ’27.
As the year continues, Public Safety said they plan to keep the students aware of the animals and what to do if they are bitten. They said they hope to keep both the Fordham community and the cats safe.
“They’ve been on campus as many years as the campus has been in existence,” said Smith.
