Maui Humane Society plans to implement an island-wide “Community Cat Count” this month as an effort to better understand and manage the cat population of roughly 40,000 as humanely as possible.

This project will use tools developed by the research conducted by DC Cat Count, which launched in 2018 in Washington, D.C. through a collaboration between animal welfare organizations and conservation scientists led by groups like the Humane Society of the United States, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Humane Rescue Alliance, and the Great Basin Bird Observatory.

Maui will be the first location — outside of Washington — to utilize these research tools for a survey, which will take four months to complete, according to nonprofit Maui Humane Society.

Among the research tools needed include shelter data collection, non-invasive field cameras and field technicians to conduct data collection.

“DC Cat Count survey results will provide a more reliant baseline which will create a good information-based policy on how to address the concerns of the community,” MHS said in a news release. “Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is the humane approach to addressing community cat populations.”

The Maui Humane Society established their TNR program in November 2017and has since increased the Live-Release-Rate of cats from 33.5 percent in 2016 to 80.2 percent this year.

DC Cat Count survey results will provide further insight to humanely manage the cat population.

This effort is funded through a grant of $77,000 from the Dave and Cheryl Duffield Foundation.

For those who are interested in volunteering, email the Maui Humane Society at volunteer@mauihumanesociety.org.