A Year of S.P.O.T. – Bringing TNR Efforts into the Community
Last April, the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County welcomed a life-changing resource, the mobile veterinary unit, S.P.O.T. A year later, this mobile veterinary and outreach vehicle has completed over 100 spay and neuter surgeries to cat colonies across Pierce County.
S.P.O.T. started as a dream to better serve Pierce County communities with accessible veterinary services and to help manage the growing community cat population. This dream was made possible by our community, who generously donated nearly $400,000 to build and outfit this custom vehicle.
At the beginning of 2025, our team started to plant the foundations for the Targeted Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program. A resource like the mobile veterinary unit required collaboration across the organization, bringing on a Community Cat & Clinic Coordinator with over 20 years of TNR experience to lead the team, developing the veterinary and operating protocols for performing spay and neuter surgeries, performing several trial runs onsite and offsite while using the vehicle, training staff to operate this surgery suite on wheels, and recruiting volunteers willing to help with the mission.
Once a skilled team of staff and volunteers equipped with the knowledge to perform effective Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) was established, we prepared S.P.O.T. for the inaugural TNR mission in September of 2025. This site’s caretaker had reached out early on, and they were the first to feel the impact of S.P.O.T.’s program to provide support to their colony. After a couple visits to the site, 60 cats received their core vaccines and spay or neuter surgeries, ensuring that 90% of the total colony was spayed or neutered.
The most recent mission serviced 3 separate community cat colonies which were beginning to merge into one another. Without the help from S.P.O.T., this would have left the care givers strained for resources and a population of cats that would continue to multiply. Not only was this site a challenge due to the number of colonies co–mingling, but it also proved a challenge due to the weather. Staff and volunteers worked tirelessly to trap the cats at the tail end of a rainstorm. On the day S.P.O.T. arrived, the rain was no longer a problem, because Pierce County was covered in a blanket of snow.
Regardless of temperamental weather, our team pushed through to ensure that the cats would receive the care they needed. This directly resulted in avoiding 14 separate litters born into these colonies this spring, and with average litters containing around 5 kittens, that stopped the colonies from growing by 70 cats.
Each TNR mission requires around three weeks of preparation. First, our team contacts the caregivers for the cat colony and then performs a site visit. We then organize training for the caregivers in the community on how to trap the cats with the help of volunteers. The night before S.P.O.T. arrives, we work alongside the caregivers and our volunteers to trap the cats, so they are ready for surgery and vaccines the next day. The cats are held overnight so recovery can be monitored, then released.
During the first year, 117 community cats that have been spayed/neutered in S.P.O.T., each being trapped by community members and volunteers. Seven different colonies have been given care, and countless litters have been prevented. Tacoma Humane’s S.P.O.T. program is growing strong roots through continued training to increase the support for Pierce County’s communities.
Currently, S.P.O.T. is set to go out on 15 separate Trap-Neuter-Return missions by the end of 2026. With a year full of lessons, community support, and a team of compassionate animal lovers, we are looking forward to our continued support to control the community cat overpopulation throughout our county.
