There are colonies in virtually every neighborhood with suitable nooks and crannies — in Bushwick, in Washington Heights, in Ozone Park. There may be as many as half a million feral cats padding around New York City, but no one knows for sure. “No one knows, and the city doesn’t care to know,” said Will Zweigart, the founder of Flatbush Cats, the nonprofit group that Ms. Gabriel and scores of others volunteer with. “Because if they knew, they would be accountable to do something about it.”There are a number of reasons for the explosion in feral cat colonies. Some people, fearing that their unwanted cats would be euthanized if they were taken to a shelter, simply let them out on the streets and hoped for the best.

---

Persons: ”, Will Zweigart, Gabriel Organizations: Flatbush Cats, Yorkers Locations: Flatbush, Bushwick, Washington Heights, Ozone, New York City