Controlling the Cat Population in Hershey

Residents of Sun Country may be familiar with Derry Township Community Cats (DTCC) and Cocoa Kitties, two volunteer-run nonprofits dedicated to caring for the township’s feral, stray and abandoned cats.

Kendra Daub has been rescuing cats in Hershey for more than 30 years and has no intention of stopping.

A force to be reckoned with, she is Cocoa Kitties’ founder, a board member with DTCC and, naturally, a devoted cat lover.

Since its inception in 2012, DTCC’s Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate Return (TNVR) program has spayed/neutered close to 1,500 cats. Because one unspayed female cat can produce up to 14 kittens per year, TNVR intervention has prevented the birth of thousands of homeless kittens in Derry Township.

Cocoa Kitties was established in 2022 and has since saved the lives of hundreds of cats in the township in a different way.

While spaying/neutering cats is still part of Cocoa Kitties’ mission, this foster-based nonprofit works to rescue, rehabilitate and provide loving homes for each cat.

“Cocoa Kitties focuses more on rescue, but we will help with TNR when we can,” Daub said. “Overall, we do about 100-150 TNR each year. Our focus is mostly Hershey and surrounding communities, but [we] have helped with large colonies elsewhere, too.”

Daub shared that “every year is different,” but Cocoa Kitties provided TNR services to just shy of 100 cats in 2024.

“The number has gone down each year because it is working, but we are seeing more of what we assume are abandoned pet cats in the past several years,” she said.

This is where microchipping comes into play.

DTCC has taken in more than 200 cats from the community since June 2022, and, of that number, more than half of them were abandoned or lost as opposed to being feral.

Daub shared that, of the lost or abandoned cats found in the township, the microchip numbers are “very low.”

“At Cocoa Kitties, we chip every cat, and we register all the chips to the adopters,” Daub said. “Chipping a cat is only half the battle; registering the chips plays a huge part.”

In 2024 alone, DTCC and Cocoa Kitties took in 82 adoptable cats from the streets of Derry Township. Daub shared that only eight of the cats found in 2024 were microchipped, and five of them were able to be returned to their owners because the chips were registered.

During the public comment portion of the Derry Township Board of Supervisors’ Jan. 28 meeting, Cait Clark went before the board to discuss the lack of microchipping in the township.

Clark, a volunteer with both DTCC and Cocoa Kitties, shared that a borough in Pennsylvania was revising its ordinances to include regulations for pet, community and feral cats. Through her research, she discovered that Derry Township does not have ordinances that created specific regulations for domestic or community cats.

Chairwoman Natalie Nutt encouraged Clark to work on next steps with director of community development Chuck Emerick.

According to Clark, after further discussion between the organizations and Emerick, an ordinance proposal to include requirements for spay/neuter and microchipping in the township will go before the board during its March 25 meeting.

Microchipping your pet, ensuring the chip is registered and making sure information is up-to-date could be the factor that brings your beloved fur baby home in the event of escape or emergency.

Microchips are the same size as a grain of rice and can be implanted during a routine veterinary visit. The process is only a few seconds, but it could make a world of difference.

Daub shared that there is a “definite” problem with finding abandoned cats that had once been pets.

Without a microchip, there is no simple way to trace a cat to its owner.

Volunteering and Donations

Daub works as the director, medical and foster coordinator of Cocoa Kitties and oversees nearly all activities within the organization.

“I am looking for more people to take on some leadership roles so we can grow,” she said. “I’m comfortable staying small, but the need is great, so it’s hard keeping a smaller level.”

There are more than a dozen options for volunteer work, including application processing, fundraising, social media, fostering and more. The application to volunteer with Cocoa Kitties is available online at www.CocoaKitties.org.

“We have so many goals to create a better community for cats, pets, people and the environment,” Daub said.

In 2024, Cocoa Kitties saw 295 of 300 cats adopted. The organization had more than 100 cats during the winter months and nearly 200 during kitten season.

“We were lucky to have such close numbers last year,” Daub said. “It doesn’t always work that way. Cats that aren’t adopted stay in our care until they are adopted, so their daily care costs us a lot.”

She emphasized that both DTCC and Cocoa Kitties are run entirely by volunteers and donations.

Cocoa Kitties accepts monetary donations, and specific needs are listed on its Amazon and Chewy wish lists, which are accessible at www.CocoaKitties.org or on the Cocoa Kitties Facebook page.

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