The Cat Census
11UNITED STATESSHORT STORY
Hana
8/13/20251 min read
Hana’s neighbourhood had many community cats.
Some residents fed them. Others complained about noise, rubbish, and scratches on parked cars.
During one heated meeting, people argued without knowing how many cats actually lived there.
Hana decided to count them.
She created a map and walked the neighbourhood at the same time each evening. She photographed cats from a distance and recorded colour, markings, location, and whether one ear was clipped, indicating it had been sterilised.
Her first count found forty-two cats.
The next night, she counted fifty-eight.
By the third, she realised she was counting some cats twice.
Her friend Yusof helped create identification cards.
Grey tail, white paws, notch in left ear: “Socks.”
Orange male, dark stripe over nose: “Captain.”
They did not know the cats’ real names, so they invented temporary ones.
After two weeks, Hana estimated that thirty-one cats regularly lived in the area. Seventeen were sterilised.
She presented the findings to the residents’ committee.
Instead of arguing about whether there were “hundreds” of cats, they could discuss specific problems.
Volunteers arranged sterilisation for the remaining cats. Feeding stations were moved away from doorways. Residents agreed to remove leftover food before night.
One neighbour accused Hana of encouraging the cats to stay.
“They already live here,” she replied. “Ignoring them does not make them disappear.”
Over several months, noise decreased and fewer kittens appeared.
Hana continued the census every season.
She noticed that Socks vanished one winter. Captain became friendlier. A new black cat appeared near the car park.
The project taught her that counting was not cold or impersonal.
Good data required patient observation. Each number represented a living animal with habits, territories, and relationships.
At the next neighbourhood meeting, nobody shouted.
They looked at Hana’s updated map.
Knowing the facts did not make every disagreement disappear.
It made the disagreement possible to solve.