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Hundreds of stray cats that roam a historic seaside vacationer space of Puerto Rico’s capital the place they’re thought of each a delight and a nuisance will likely be eliminated over the approaching 12 months, below a plan unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. National Park Service.
The company mentioned it’s going to contract an animal welfare organization to take away the 200 cats estimated to stay on 75 acres surrounding a fortress on the San Juan National Historic Site that the federal company operates in Old San Juan. If the organization fails to take away the cats inside six months, the park service mentioned it might rent a removing company.
Cat lovers responded to the plan with dismay, however the company famous that the felines can transmit sicknesses to people. “All visitors will benefit from the removal of a potential disease vector from the park,” the park service plan acknowledged.
The six-month timetable to take away the cats is unrealistic, mentioned 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.
“Anyone who has worked with cats knows that is impossible,” Salicrup mentioned. “They are setting us up for failure.”
Cats of all sizes, colours and temperaments meander the seaside trails that encompass a Sixteenth-century fortress referred to as “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.
Visitors will be seen snapping footage of cats every 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 mentioned the cat inhabitants had grown an excessive amount of and that the “encounters between visitors and cats and the smell of urine and feces are … inconsistent with the cultural landscape.”
Last 12 months, the U.S. National Park Service held a listening to as a part of a plan it mentioned would enhance the security of holiday makers and workers and defend cultural and pure assets. It supplied two choices: take away the cats or hold the established order.
Those who attended overwhelmingly rejected the primary possibility, with one man describing the cats as “one of the wonders of Old San Juan.” The cats even have their very own statue within the historic space the place they roam.
“These cats are unique to San Juan,” Danna Wakefield, a photo voltaic contractor who moved to Puerto Rico in 2020, mentioned in an interview. She visits the cats weekly. “Me and many other people love that walk because of the cats. Otherwise, it would be a very boring walk.”
She has three favourite cats, together with a black one with golden eyes that she nicknamed “Cross.”
“He won’t have anything to do with anybody,” Wakefield mentioned with fun.
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 looking for to desert their cats to take action in that space, realizing they’ll be fed.
The company plan says the animal welfare organization that is chosen will likely be tasked with deciding whether or not the trapped cats will likely be adopted, placed in a foster home, saved in a shelter or face different choices.
Salicrup mentioned it is troublesome to seek out properties for thus many cats, and that Save a Gato has reached out to many sanctuaries within the U.S. mainland. “The response always is, ‘You cannot bring 100 cats here,’” she mentioned.
The National 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 removing company.
