meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Curious City

The Windy Kitty: How Chicago Became A Haven For Feral Cats

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture, Education, Public, Chicago, Arts, City, Radio, Curious, Investigation

4.8642 Ratings

🗓️ 29 February 2024

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Chicago is home to thousands of feral cats. But who’s looking after them? We look at the pros and cons of keeping feral cat colonies.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey there, I'm WBEZ producer Justin Bull.

0:03.2

I think you'd be a little skittish of strangers.

0:06.0

I'm sure they can't.

0:07.6

And this is Rob Crowder.

0:10.6

Pops, pops, poohs, poohs, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so.

0:13.8

He's trying to get his feral cats to talk into my microphone.

0:19.1

Usually, when I open this food up, we'll get a couple of meows.

0:21.6

They didn't really cooperate. After all, they are wild animals.

0:24.6

Can you introduce me to these two?

0:27.6

Yeah. So we have two cats here in our colony.

0:31.6

This is Washington and this is Drake.

0:34.6

That's right, a colony.

0:36.6

That's just another way of saying a group of cats.

0:40.3

Chicago has a lot of feral cats.

0:43.1

And also, a lot of people who take care of them.

0:46.3

Probably over 3,000 caregivers in the city.

0:49.6

Feeding, I can't even imagine the number of cats.

0:53.2

Yeah, cats we don't even know about.

0:55.0

This is Cecilia Ocampo Solis.

0:58.0

She manages the feral cat placement program at Treehouse Humane Society.

1:03.0

That's where Rob got his feral cats.

1:05.0

Now, you've probably seen some feral felines roaming the alleys or hanging out under your car.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WBEZ Chicago, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WBEZ Chicago and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.