Nita Hemeter is the Crescent City’s queen of feral felines. She runs a self-styled, nonprofit organization called Trap Dat Cat out of her house in the Carrollton neighborhood. Hemeter proudly claims to have had a hand in capturing 3,270 stray cats in 2024 alone. On a steamy Wednesday afternoon in mid-August, there were roughly 30 cats in Hemeter’s care.
A dozen cat traps were lined up on Hemeter’s front porch — imagine steel mesh cages shaped like loaves of Bunny bread, with spring-loaded doors. Each trap was draped with a hand-sewn, cloth cover that provided comforting privacy to the wide-eyed kitties inside. A similar number of cat-occupied traps were lined up on long folding tables in Hemeter’s living room.
In the back of the house was a sort of hospital ward for cats recuperating from surgery, or otherwise in need of special care. A big white dog wandered complacently amid all the caged cats, admirably disguising his natural disdain for the inmates…