Sixty volunteers have been out in 11 of the city's parks this week, catching stray cats for a sterilization and immunization program known as Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

"TNR has proven to be, and is recognized worldwide as, the most effective method to reduce the number of stray cats in a humanitarian way," said Qin Xiaona, director of the Capital Animal Welfare Association (CAWA), which initiated the campaign on Monday.

The Temple of Heaven, Zhongshan Park and nine other parks will participate in the year-long program, which aims to control the number of stray cats in public green spaces.

Some 60 volunteers from the association and other animal protection organizations will attempt to catch abandoned cats in the parks, then vaccinate and sterilize them, before returning them to the places where they were found, Qin said.

There are an estimated 200,000 stray cats in the capital and most of them are living in residential communities, with around 10,000 cats inhabiting public parks, she added.

Part of the ear of cats that are neutered will be cut off, so they can be distinguished from feral cats that can reproduce.

A press officer surnamed Xia from the Beijing Municipal Administration Center for Parks hailed the project. She said there was an increasing number of stray cats in the city's parks, which was bad for the parks' image and caused hygiene problems.

"With TNR, the number of stray cats will be reduced, which is good for the environment and the safety of children playing there," Xia said.

However, the park administration aims to keep a reasonable number of stray cats because they can be a very effective method of controlling rodents in the parks, she said.

CAWA put TNR on trial in some communities in 2008, and so far have treated more than 30,000 stray cats. It hopes to expand the TNR project to more residential communities next year in a bid to reduce conflicts, which have increased in recent years, between residents who feed and look after stray cats and those who view them as pests.

Qin said many cats are brutally killed because some residents believe they carry diseases and make too much noise.

"We often receive reports of cat killings. I think it is time for us to take action," she said.

However, she also called on residents raising a cat to be more responsible. "The number of stray cats is increasing because more and more people abandon them. If you decide to raise a cat, you should accept the responsibility," she said.

Other animal protection organizations such as Lucky Cats and Beautiful New World have also been carrying out TNR projects in residential areas in recent years.

"As long as people in the community contact us, we will trap and sterilize stray cats for free," said Zeng Li, founder of Lucky Cats.