US-WASHINGTON-CAT-CENSUS
A cat is wrapped in a towel and held in the arms of a Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA) employee at an HRA animal shelter in Washington, DC, on October 15, 2021. – A striped feline leaps from a rock under the shade of a tree on a late October morning. As its front paws touch the ground, the whiskered creature looks up, eyes darting left. A wildlife camera clicks and captures the scene. It’s a cat and the location isn’t a remote rainforest, but the capital of the United States. The photo is part of the DC Cat Count, a first of its kind, three-year effort by animal welfare advocates, conservationists and scientists to enumerate every Felis catus in Washington. (Photo by Bastien INZAURRALDE / AFP)