Sterilizing stray cats, an unbalanced battle: "We can see that the scale of the task is enormous"

Sunglasses pushed up on her head, loose blouse, and bootcut jeans, Annika Lähdeniemi, president of the animal welfare association L'Ecole du chat in Clichy-la-Garenne (Hauts-de-Seine), is busy around the trunk of her car. She pulls out two metal traps and a bag of kibble. On a vacant lot overgrown with weeds, a delicate mission awaits her: to capture and sterilize around twenty stray cats reported by individuals, using the TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) method.

"We were called a little late ," she regrets. "The cats have already formed a colony." Four volunteers from the association join her. Before entering the wasteland, she reiterates the instructions: "We won't be able to catch them all. We have to focus on pregnant females and their young," especially since summer is a mating season conducive to proliferation.

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