BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. — A local nonprofit organization is teaming up with Bernalillo County for an initiative focused on free-roaming cats in the community.

Street Cat Hub traps, neuters and then returns cats to where they live. They are getting ready to host what they call “BernCo Blitz” to help free-roaming cats in unincorporated areas and outside Albuquerque city limits, ahead of kitten season.

“Those cats are typically unowned, but they can be owned and just free roaming and not otherwise licensed or microchipped,” said Erin Atkinson, the executive director of Street Cat Hub. “We want to get those cats now before they reproducing. Then for those that we don’t get, in the spring, we definitely want to get those kittens in and get them spayed and neutered and returned so that they are not producing anymore.”

Atkinson said BernCo Blitz will only last about a month and is self-trapping only.

“It’s the only known method that is proven to be both humane and effective in addressing this issue,” she said.

Atkinson said they see about 6,000 cats each year. She said that in itself can be a lot to deal with. However, she said, “Commissioner Quezada provided us with additional funding through a sponsorship he did.”

The funding came after former Bernalillo County Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada and his wife started seeing an increase of cats roaming around.

“We knew that they were barely out of being kittens. And we really wanted to figure out how we could protect them. And how we could make sure we didn’t end up with 30 cats,” Quezada said.

Quezada said he knew they would need more support because shelters can only handle so much.

“Our animal care is something that’s big to us here in New Mexico. We’re a bunch of animal lovers here. But our facility at Bernalillo County can only handle so much,” he said.

The BernCo Blitz starts next Wednesday and goes into the middle of February. It’s first-come, first-serve and they will take in 235 cats.

If you want to participate in this program, visit this website.