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Behind the hubbub that will surround Lil’ BUB’s appearance alongside a host of celebrities and VIPs during this weekend’s Catsbury Park Cat Convention is the dedication of a team who work year round to provide local feral felines a safe respite while awaiting forever homes.

The famous Lil BUB, known for her headline breaking interview with former First Lady Michele Obama, works to spread positivity, acceptance, love, and animal welfare awareness, her handlers say.

Catsbury Park Cat Convention kicks off 10 am Saturday morning and winds down with the 7 pm

Sunday Lil BUB’s Big Show, featuring comedian, actor, and musician Fred Armisen – known for his tenure on Saturday Night Live, Portlandia, and as the Late Night with Seth Meyers bandleader; musician, producer, engineer, and journalist Steve Albini – known for his work on Nirvana’s In Utero, Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, and The Breeders’ Pod; The Breeders lead guitarist and co-vocalist Kelley Deal; and Ozzy Osbourne bassist Blasko.

In between, there will be a host of other celebrity cats to see, a few adoptable felines, music, games, activities, art, vendors, presentations, seminars, comedians, tattoos, and vegetarian food offerings. Highlights include appearances by the Kitten Lady, and the Friday night opening show at the Wonder Bar with Catsbury Park founder DJ Bornschein.

Since Catsubry Park drew over 5,000 people from across the nation to Asbury Park last year, we asked Bornschein to give us the behind-the-scenes scoop; after all over $40,000 from last year’s proceeds went toward supporting Catsbury Park, The Brodie Fund, Humane Society Tinton Falls, Jersey Shore Animal Foundation, Camden County Shelter, Paul the Cat Guy, North Shore Animal League, and Asbury Park Boardwalk Cats.

Sun: How many cats have found homes thanks to Catsbury Park?

Bornschein: Since opening our doors, we are well over 300

Sun: How many cats live at the Cookman Ave ‘complex’?

Bornschein: Cats don’t technically ‘live’ at our Cookman Ave location. Our cafe is a temporary home for our rescues. They stay with us until they find their forever home, however long that may take. Typically we have 15-20 staying with us at any given time. The number changes almost daily due to adoptions and current rescues.

Sun: Could you speak to the systemic issue of feral cats?

Bornschein: We believe that the most effective and only humane way to manage feral cat colonies [community cats] is the practice commonly known as trap-neuter-return [TNR], in which cats are trapped, spayed or neutered, and then returned to their colonies to live out their lives.

However, not everyone is a fan of free-roaming cats, and it is not uncommon for community members and public officials to attempt to have them removed. Most of the time, people do not know about TNR or understand the options available to them. A big focus of The Catsbury Park Cat Convention is education, and TNR & community cat care is at the forefront of what we try to educate people about. Jacksonville, FL was the first large scale TNR program ever initiated in the United States back in 2008 and has dramatically reduced not only the number of feral cats but also lowered local shelter euthanasia rates. Several municipal agencies across the country have now started to launch TNR programs, and hundreds of new ordinances and policies are now in place that has made a dramatic impact. Asbury has yet to adopt such a program so sadly, many of the feral cats in our community are getting euthanized when there is a proven and effective way to deal with this issue.

Sun: How does this very popular event [The CPCC] affect real change?

Bornschein: First and foremost our event is a fundraiser for our mission. The money we are able to raise at the event helps offset the extremely high operating costs we have at Catsbury Park. With the funds we are able to raise it allows us to take in more at risk cats that face euthanasia due to medical issues that shelters do not have the time or resources to deal with.  Cats frequently get surrendered to shelters because owners can’t afford vet bills for a variety of things. Often these animals get euthanized when they are perfectly adoptable and deserving of a home. With the extra funds we are able to raise at our event we can save many of these cats and place them in loving homes.

As a completely non-profit event, all proceeds get donated. We select 4-5 other non-profits aside from Catsbury Park that fall in line with our mission in one way or another and are able to make a donation to them as well. These can be anything from local rescues that we work with regularly [Jersey Shore Animal Foundation], organizations that give grants to families whose pets have recently been diagnosed with cancer [The Brodie Fund] to rescues who save special needs cats like Milos Sanctuary based in Southern California.  

Lastly, although we gear our event towards entertainment, we do offer educational seminars and talks about issues facing our cats today [kitten care, TNR, Medical advice, Eco-friendly pet care].

Sun: How many people are employed and/or volunteer year-round for the event?

Bornschein: Technically we have no one employed by the event full time.  Myself [DJ, founder, and director of Catsbury Park] and Jamie Nicols [General Manager and adoption coordinator] spend half of the year working on it while running Catsbury Park. We brought in one part-time producer, Jake Szufnarowski, who helped in the creation of the event. Aside from that, we rely heavily on the 50+ wonderful volunteers that help keep Catsbury Park running smoothly day to day.

For more about this weekend’s Catsbury Park Convention, running April 13 and 14, click here. For more about Catsbury Park, located at 708 Cookman Ave, click here.

[Photo courtesy of Catsbury Park]

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