FALLS CHURCH, Va., 30 March 2013. A wary feral cat enjoys a meal at a feeding station hidden behind a row of garden apartment buildings in Northern Virginia. In addition to being neutered or spayed and vaccinated against rabies and distemper, sterilized feral cats are also eartipped. Eartipping removes a small triangle of skin from the top of the cat’s left ear, an effective way to identify — at a distance and without trapping — those feral cats that have already been sterilized and vaccinated.
(Photo by Elizabeth M. Grieco)