The Homeless Cat Network board member is a finalist for Animal Planet’s Cat Hero of the Year Award. Her group could earn a $5,000 prize and have a documentary made about her work helping to spay, neuter and feed homeless and feral cats on the Peninsula. She was nominated for the award due to her work developing a program called Project Bay Cat, which is a humane feral-cat management program on the Foster City Bay Trail. The public can vote for Morrissey online at www.animalplanet.com.

Why is it important to take care of feral cats? Humans created the problem and we have to be responsible for humanely solving it. Not just for Bay Trail cats but for feral cats all over the Peninsula. Our goal is to educate people on the problem and inspire them to help.

How critical are volunteers to your program? They are crucial. There is not really a public agency that reaches out to these animals. We have 25 volunteers and two veterinarians from the San Mateo Animal Hospital and Crystal Springs Pet Hospital who are so compassionate to these animals. The volunteers are the heroes.

What drew you to this work? I was on the Bay Trail walking one day about five years ago and saw what I thought looked like millions of kittens. I found out no one was doing anything to help the animals. I didn’t even know what a feral cat was at the time.

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Do you bring any of these cats into your home? No. I have a strict rule — only two cats at a time. I don’t want to be the “crazy cat lady.” But I have helped adopt out more than 70 cats over the years.

Check out more 3-minute interviews from our San Francisco newsroom.