International Courant
A whole bunch of stray cats that roam a historic seaside vacationer space of Puerto Rico’s capital the place they’re thought-about each a delight and a nuisance will likely be eliminated over the approaching 12 months, underneath a plan unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. Nationwide Park Service.
The company stated it would contract an animal welfare group to take away the 200 cats estimated to stay on 75 acres surrounding a fortress on the San Juan Nationwide Historic Web site that the federal company operates in Previous San Juan. If the group fails to take away the cats inside six months, the park service stated it will rent a elimination company.
Cat lovers responded to the plan with dismay, however the company famous that the felines can transmit sicknesses to people. “All guests will profit from the elimination of a possible illness vector from the park,” the park service plan acknowledged.
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A stray cat sits on a wall in Previous San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Nov. 2, 2022. The well-known felines that roam the historic space of Puerto Rico’s capital and entice hordes of vacationers will likely be eliminated, in response to a plan that the U.S. Nationwide Park Service unveiled on Nov. 28, 2023. (AP Photograph/Alejandro Granadillo, File)
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The six-month timetable to take away the cats is unrealistic, stated Ana María Salicrup, secretary of the board of administrators for the nonprofit group Save a Gato, which at the moment helps look after the cats and which hopes to be chosen to implement the plan.
“Anybody who has labored with cats is aware of that’s unattainable,” Salicrup stated. “They’re setting us up for failure.”
Cats of all sizes, colours and temperaments meander the seaside trails that encompass a Sixteenth-century fortress often called “El Morro” overlooking an expanse of deep turquoise waters within the northwestern level of the San Juan capital.
Some are believed to be descendants of colonial-era cats, whereas others had been dropped at the capital by legendary San Juan Mayor Felisa Rincón de Gautier to kill rats within the mid-Twentieth century. Since then, they’ve multiplied into the a whole bunch to the enchantment of some residents and vacationers, and the disgust of others.
Guests may be seen snapping footage of cats day by day as residents and volunteers with Save a Gato are inclined to them. The group feeds, spays and neuters cats, and locations them into adoption.
About two years in the past, federal officers stated the cat inhabitants had grown an excessive amount of and that the “encounters between guests and cats and the odor of urine and feces are … inconsistent with the cultural panorama.”
Final 12 months, the U.S. Nationwide Park Service held a listening to as a part of a plan it stated would enhance the protection of holiday makers and staff and shield cultural and pure assets. It provided two choices: take away the cats or hold the established order.
Those that attended overwhelmingly rejected the primary possibility, with one man describing the cats as “one of many wonders of Previous San Juan.” The cats even have their very own statue within the historic space the place they roam.
“These cats are distinctive to San Juan,” Danna Wakefield, a photo voltaic contractor who moved to Puerto Rico in 2020, stated in an interview. She visits the cats weekly. “Me and lots of different individuals love that stroll due to the cats. In any other case, it will be a really boring stroll.”
She has three favourite cats, together with a black one with golden eyes that she nicknamed “Cross.”
“He gained’t have something to do with anyone,” Wakefield stated with amusing.
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The U.S. Park Service plan unveiled Tuesday requires present cat feeding stations to be eliminated until they’re getting used briefly to assist lure the felines. It famous that unauthorized feeding of the cats is prohibited, that it attracts rats and encourages individuals in search of to desert their cats to take action in that space, realizing they’ll be fed.
The company plan says the animal welfare group that is chosen will likely be tasked with deciding whether or not the trapped cats will likely be adopted, positioned in a foster residence, saved in a shelter or face different choices.
Salicrup stated it is troublesome to seek out houses for therefore many cats, and that Save a Gato has reached out to many sanctuaries within the U.S. mainland. “The response at all times is, ‘You can’t deliver 100 cats right here,’” she stated.
The Nationwide Park Service famous that the six-month deadline to lure cats could possibly be prolonged if it sees substantial progress. If not, the company would terminate the present plan and rent a elimination company.
