Catnip Nation's March Report - What Happened to the Seaside Heights Boardwalk Cats?

In January I brought you the fifth installment in a series of posts by Tina Traster, Producer and Director of the documentary film Catnip Nation. This month Tina brings us the exciting news that Catnip Nation will be at the Catsbury Park Cat Convention in just a few weeks! Tina and the Catnip Nation folks will be discussing the dismantling the TNR program for the Seaside Heights Boardwalk Cats and the uncertain fate 60 cats faced. In their presentation they will discuss how things worked out for the  cats, and the universal issue of protecting colony cats and their caretakers. I can't wait to see the Catnip Nation crew again and attend their session, which I'll definitely be reporting back on. Are you going to the Catsbury Park Cat Convention? Let me know in the comments below. 

If you'd like to support the documentary film Catnip Nation, click here. You can also spread the word about the wonderful work they are doing to make a difference in the lives of community cats. And don't forget to follow them on social media! 

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Dawn  

CATS CATS CATS – DOWN THE SHORE THIS APRIL

Mark Your Calendars! The Catsbury Park Cat Convention, New Jersey’s first cat lovers’ convention, is taking place on April 7th and 8th, at the Asbury Park Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ. The convention, sponsored by the owners of Catsbury Park Café and Tea House, New Jersey’s first cat café, will give cat lovers a New Jersey-style opportunity to convene, cavort, and connect.

Catnip Nation will be there too – presenting “No Longer Under The Boardwalk: How the Seaside Heights Cats Ended Up In A Better Place”.  Our 45-minute presentation will take place on Sunday at 4 pm in the Paramount Theater, next to the convention center. You can also stop by our booth in the main convention hall on Sunday.

Seaside Heights Cats. Photo by Alley Cat Allies

Cat conventions are truly good fun. There are lots of people vamping, wearing ears, cat tails etc. There’s good merch, too. Cat people love to tell each other their stories. Share their passion. Spend time with other cat lovers. And the truly devoted go to events like this to meet icons like L’il Bub and Hannah the Kitten Lady. 



But there’s a serious underlying reason to attend these conventions, which are now spreading nationwide. Those of us in the “cat” world understand how important it is to spread the word about making better lives for cats. That means addressing everything from adoptions to learning about Trap Neuter Return to engaging in political activism. These conventions have great resources for learning mixed in with unfettered fun. 

Seaside Heights Cats. Photo by Change.org

In our presentation, “No Longer Under The Boardwalk”, we’re going to show a short clip that previews some material in our upcoming documentary “Catnip Nation.” After the screening, Tina Traster, director of Catnip Nation, will be moderating a panel on the tale of the Seaside Heights with Ken Salerno, cat hero, Sara Cameron, owner of Calling All Cats Rescues, and Pam Ward, an animal activist. The iconic Seaside Heights cats had been under the boardwalk forever. After Hurricane Sandy, Seaside Heights Animal Welfare Organization, a local animal welfare group, along with Alley Cat Allies, created an official TNR program. Although it was highly successful, it was dismantled in 2016 by Seaside Heights’ officials, and the fate of more than 60 cats remained uncertain after city officials said cats could no longer live under the boardwalk. 

Seaside Heights Cats. Photo by Ken Salerno

Come to our presentation to hear how things worked out for the Seaside Heights cats, and to talk about the universal issue of protecting colony cats and their caretakers.

If you’d like to let us know you’re planning on attending our presentation, drop us a line: catnipnationdocumentury@gmail.com.

Visit our website to learn more about our film: www.catnipnation.com

Please weigh in. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Tina Traster is a socially-conscious, award-winning journalist, author, and filmmaker. Her 30-minute documentary, This House Matters, is an examination on historic preservation in the Hudson Valley. The film has screened at the YoFi Film Festival, the Kingston Film Festival, the Hoboken International Film Festival, and the Nyack Film Festival. Traster's work has appeared in scores of newspapers, magazines and literary journals including The New York Times, The New York Post, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, Redbook, Family Circle, Parade, Time Out New York, Audubon, Ski Magazine and many others. She is the author of the award-winning memoir Rescuing Julia Twice: A Mother's Tale of Russian Adoption and Overcoming Reactive Attachment Disorder. Since 2006, Traster has written the "Burb  Appeal" column for The New York Post.