Autumn Ganza: Trap, Neuter, Release Activist

Autumn Ganza once halted a demolition of a hoarder house by taking on a private company and Bridgeport Alderman Patrick Daley Thompson. She broke into the building through a boarded-up window and carried out dozens of cats, she said, one by one. In mid-winter Chicago. That was just the live ones.

She feeds feral cats across the South Side. She traps the ones she can catch, takes them to a vet, pays for the neuter and spaying, then releases them back to their Bridgeport abodes. If she can find them a home, she will, but many are too “wild” to be tamed, and are fit only to roam their home city block.

Ganza does it on her own dime. Friends sometimes chip in, but most of it — the work, the money — comes from her.

Because demand for her services has grown, she’s formed Kitty Empire, a trap, neuter, release organization whose nonprofit status is pending.

This episode first aired on WLPN 105.5 FM, Chicago, on January 21, 2022.

As always, check out our accompanying story.