AP PHOTOS: Jakarta TNR effort aims to help stray cats like lively Hitam and feisty Aing Maung

Hitam, a lively black-and-white stray cat has been spayed and returned to the loving arms of Alvin, a parking attendant in a bustling street in Indonesia's capital.

“I feed her rice and fish every day,” Alvin said.

The nimble feline is part of an estimated whopping 700,000 stray cats that roam Jakarta. Trap-neuter-return programs, or TNR, have been spearheaded by community-based groups including Let’s Adopt Indonesia that advocate humane methods to control the cat population.

Every weekend, volunteers like 28-year-old Vanya Afreenzha work tirelessly to trap as many stray cats as possible. Armed with cat food, long pole nets and plastic carriers, they roam parks, train stations and public areas where cats can be easily spotted. They then drop them off at a clinic in southern Jakarta to be neutered by qualified veterinarians.

During a recent excursion, volunteers trapped 80 cats, including Hitam, and got them spayed or neutered. Among them was a notoriously aggressive female cat...