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Animal groups work on cat census

The Humane Rescue Alliance has teamed with several other groups to count the cats in the city. The group wants information on felines are owned, stray, and in shelters.
(Credit: Thinkstock)

WASHINGTON -- How many cats live in D.C.? That’s a question you may not have asked, or even want to know the answer to. But, this year several animal groups will begin a “Cat Census” for the city.

The Humane Rescue Alliance has teamed with several other groups to count the cats in the city.

The group wants information on felines that are owned, stray, and in shelters.

The goal is to reduce the number of free roaming cats in the city. With information they want to get from the cat count, scientists and animal experts hope they can find what projects work to reduce the size of the outdoor cat population.

The team will use a multi-pronged approach. They will do household surveys throughout the district. They will get official numbers from shelters. They will then use state of the art camera trap methods in public to capture the number of cats living outdoors.

This whole project costs around $1.5 million and it will take three years to complete. It is all funded by the donations from animal advocacy groups.

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