Aside from the question of whether a person prefers dogs, felines have long been blamed for killing wildlife like birds and small mammals. It Will Take 3 Years And $1.5 Million 
 
 Counting cats, much like herding them, is a complicated proposition. PetSmart Charities, the Humane Society, the Humane Rescue Alliance and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute are collaborating on a project called the D.C. Cat Count, which aims to create a more accurate estimate of the city's entire cat population — both feral cats and pet cats. But groups like the Humane Rescue Alliance "have little sense if their programs are the lion's share of adoptions in the city, or if their trap-neuter-return program is effective in helping to control the cat population," Fenston writes. According to the site, the project will use a number of strategies to arrive at a total population count: 
 
 "Camera trapping" — a camera triggered by an animal's presence, not an actual trap — to estimate the outdoor cat population 
 
 Household surveys to estimate the owned cat population 
 
 An analysis of the number of cats at shelters 
 
 A physical count of outdoor cats in sample locations, to compare with the camera trapping data 
 
 A statistical model to explore "the interactions between cat population segments" 
 
 The development of a set of tools to help other groups do similar counts 
 
 The project also hopes to roll out an app allowing residents to snap their own images of cats, Fenston reports. As Jacob Fenston of member station WAMU explains, "cats are controversial.
– A $1.5 million project launched in Washington, DC, has one main goal: count all the cats. DC Cat Count, a collaboration by the Humane Society, Humane Rescue Alliance, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, and PetSmart Charities, aims to create an accurate estimate of the entire cat population, including pet cats, in order to better manage it. About 1,000 DC cats are trapped, spayed or neutered, and released each year by the Humane Rescue Alliance; as many as 3,000 more are adopted out, with owners pledging to keep the cats inside. But it's "impossible to say" how many cats are really out there or how effective the programs are in terms of curtailing the cat population, community programs VP Lauren Lipsey tells DCist. "We want to understand the movement and flow of cats." So far, though, "just walking around the neighborhood counting cats, we were surprised at how few cats we've seen," Lipsey tells the Washington Post. Cats—which threaten rodents like mice and rats, but also birds and protected or endangered species—are "secretive animals" and therefore "hard to see," but that doesn't mean they aren't around, conservation biologist Tyler Flockhart tells the New York Times. To ensure an accurate tally, the DC Cat Count will use 60 motion-activated cameras, shelter analyses, and household surveys, in addition to physical counts in sample locations, in an undertaking led by two full-time employees, per NPR. The effort is expected to take three years, with an app to be released by Christmas allowing locals to take part by snapping photos of the cats they see. (This judge sued over his neighbor's urinating cat.)