Story by Viviana Valencia, Editor-In-Chief
Photos courtesy of the Cats of Cypress College website.
Cypress College’s campus is home to several colonies of feral cats, and like many animals, they found the vacant lots of the campus during the pandemic.
Stan Russell, a resident and founder of the Cats of Cypress College website, YouTube channel, and Instagram, noticed the colony of cats on campus in August 2021. It became a routine for him to feed the cats until students and staff began returning to campus.
Once staff and students returned to campus, he noticed a pattern of trauma injuries on the cats.
Since then, Russell has reported the abuse to Campus Safety and the Cypress Police Department, but no actions were taken to gather evidence to begin a case.
After a year, Russell continued to bring dishes onto campus to provide water for the cats during the high temperatures in the summer. That was when he started to notice the containers were being destroyed by the maintenance staff.
Russell confronted maintenance staff about the containers, but they claimed to throw out the containers because they were “leaking.” He took the evidence of containers being destroyed to campus officials, and got confirmation that the behavior wasn’t part of the college’s policy, and they do not condone this kind of behavior. No disciplinary action was taken.
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Photo Courtesy of Stan Russell.
This image demonstrates a maintenance staff member puncturing the plastic containers with a knife. When confronted by Russell, the maintenance staff claimed that he threw away the containers because they were “leaking.”
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Russell put up the website, Cats of Cypress College, to bring awareness to the abuse.
“I was bringing this information to the school, and they were doing nothing about it. No punishment was given to those who were destroying the water dishes,” said Russell. Even though he has brought attention to this issue to the authorities and pleaded for evidence to be found through cameras around campus, it was never provided, and no further steps were taken.
On July 25, 2024, Russell met with the President of Cypress College, Dr. Scott W. Thayer, to discuss a cat spaying and neutering program that could be implemented at Cypress College.
During the discussion, Russell mentioned concern for students’ safety, from both the maintenance staff and the cats. After the meeting, no attempt to contact Russell was made by Thayer.
Russell stated that on Nov. 25, 2024, he was approached by student Marissa Loera; she spotted him surrounded by a colony of cats and wanted to help.
The next day, Loera and other members of the community met up with Russell to capture one kitten to give it a home. They were approached by maintenance staff on their carts, who began circling around them, frightening the kittens. The staff confronted the group and left only to come back with aggression. The group stated that a rock came flying over the top of the maintenance yard, landing next to them. Campus Safety was called immediately, Loera was able to file a report, but no actions were taken, nor was she contacted by them.
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Photo Courtesy of Stan Russell.
This photo shows a Siamese cat named Simon, who had a puncture on his neck due to being hit. The following day, he was seen walking with no control and noticeable injuries.
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On Aug. 26, 2025, Thayer released a statement to all students, staff, and faculty addressing the increase in allegations and pressure to act.
On Sept. 9, 2025, Thayer, Craig Lee, director of campus safety; Marc Posner, director of campus communications; and Cap. Chris Revere, chief of the Cypress Police Department, attended the North Orange County Community College District board meeting.
Thayer ‘s presentation at the meeting began by addressing the allegations, “I have not directed anyone to harm or kill cats, and that’s the narrative that’s being put out there. If that were happening, we would definitely be looking at that.”
Thayer stated that Cypress College had a Trap, Neuter, and Adopt program on campus and has noticed positive results from the program. This program allowed the capture of nine cats; they were able to neuter three, and the rest were adopted. Stanton Pet Hospital took care of that case on April 20, 2023.
According to data from the presentation, eleven cats were removed between June 8 and July 9, 2025. They called Orange County Animal Care to capture spotted kittens. This is one of the few actions taken to help decrease the population of cats on campus.
The Cypress Chronicle contacted Stanton Animal Hospital and confirmed that they were last contacted by the school in 2023.
Stanton Pet Hospital neutered three cats in April 2023. After that, no other records show intakes of cats from Cypress College. The hospital refused to take in more cats after Lee attempted to drop off a check for $2,000. He wanted the hospital to keep that money as a credit that they could take from whenever cats would get dropped off. The hospital informed Lee that they could not accept that money as it did not follow their policies.
Thayer stated that the last time the issue was brought to him was on Nov. 15, 2024, when a cat was found dead in the FASS building bathroom, but no statement was reported to local police.
Another cat and her litter of four were trapped by Lee near the pool area and were kept inside a cage in poor conditions.
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Photo Courtesy of Stan Russell.
(9/29/25) Correction: This photo shows the feline mother and the kittens, including one deceased kitten, that were trapped and kept in a cage.
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On May 5, 2023, a kitten was discovered dead inside the trap, and it was reported as death to “natural causes.”
Thayer addressed Russell’s website, stating that he has been falsely accusing Cypress College in general of all the feline deaths on campus.
Thayer stated that he plans to move forward by revisiting past programs, including the trap-neuter-adopt program.
“I have not given a direction to any of our staff to harm, hurt, or kill animals, cats, etc. on campus… from the employee perspective, we have employees who are passionate about trying to support the campus…not every time these situations are perfect, I’ll admit that,” said Thayer.
The college is currently working with the Cypress Police Department to address threats being made by students towards the maintenance staff and their families.
While student concerns and threats increase, several clubs and other organizations on campus are also receiving comments on their platforms. Student organizations are not a direct reflection of the administration at the college, and have not been participating in any abuse of animals on campus.
You can find the NOCCCD Board Meeting on YouTube under the title “09/09/2025 NOCCCD Board Meeting” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQtGK1uz7K0
To read Thayer’s statement, visit the “News” section on the Cypress College website: https://www.cypresscollege.edu/2025/09/03/dr-thayer-addresses-allegations-about-cats-on-campus/
To see photos, videos, and other posts mentioned, visit Cats of Cypress College: https://catsofcypresscollege.com/
