They’re some of Canberra’s smallest residents and a new facility is making sure cats and kittens are looked after, too. Photos: Canberra Street Cat Alliance.
A volunteer-led organisation making sure the Canberra region’s street cats find their fur-ever homes has moved into a new home of its own.
The Canberra Street Cat Alliance (CSCA) was founded in 2014 to reduce street cat populations through adoption and its TNR (trapping, neutering and returning) programs.
President Vanessa Parton says the loss of loved kitten Donovan to illness after a rough start to life fired her up.
“It made me think, ‘No, these deaths are unnecessary, these births are unnecessary’.
“We launched Donovan’s Dream, [a campaign] to get an intake facility and adoption centre for ourselves.”
The alliance is now operating out of a new home in Crace, where it has leased a building once used by the CSIRO.
The group spent three-and-a-half years fundraising and initially discussed a different property with a real estate agent before finding its “phenomenal” new home.
“I told him [the real estate agent] what we wanted and he said, ‘I think I’ve got the perfect property for you’ … He came back and showed us through here.
“It was a dream come true. … Part of ours is an old lab space, so it has perfect flooring easy to clean.”
The new home has room for the alliance’s intake, adoption, storage and a retail centre operation – and possible expansion for an in-house vet clinic.
Vanessa says the extra space means potential owners can comfortably meet their new family members onsite.
CSCA previously used a residential foster carer model, in which meetings with potential pet parents were arranged at various locations.
“It will still be application-based because we match our cats and kittens to the correct home. For example, we’re not going to put a timid kitten in a household with four kids,” she says.
The new facility in Crace means the alliance can expand its adoption and fostering operations. Photo: Canberra Street Cat Alliance.
The self-funded organisation can be called out for cat and kitten rescues (particularly from industrial areas), helping to get them off the streets and into warm, comfortable homes.
“You could live in Canberra your whole life and never see a street cat, unless you know where they are,” Vanessa says.
“There’s no point in patrolling because you’re not going to necessarily see them.”
She describes the new home as “more than we could have ever hoped for” and says the site will also be used for events and further fundraising activities.
Vanessa says the next major goal of establishing an in-house vet clinic will mean the group can ramp up operations.
“The reason we want that [the clinic] is because on average our vet costs are about $180,000 a year – and that’s increased significantly over the last four years.
“We’re seeing a reduction in our intake numbers because of that increase. The vast majority of that $180,000 would be desexing costs.”
She says CSCA hopes to have the clinic open by early to mid-2026, but the timeline will depend on licensing discussions.
Canberra Street Cat Alliance’s permanent home is at 80 Bellenden Street in Crace.
Email the alliance: streetcatalliance@gmail.com and find out more by following its Facebook page.
