FILE – A stray cat sits on a wall in Outdated San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The well-known felines that roam the historic space of Puerto Rico’s capital and appeal to hordes of vacationers will probably be eliminated, in line with a plan that the U.S. Nationwide Park Service unveiled Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. (AP Photograph/Alejandro Granadillo, File)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Lots of 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 probably be eliminated over the approaching yr, beneath a plan unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. Nationwide Park Service.
The company mentioned it is going to contract an animal welfare group to take away the 200 cats estimated to dwell on 75 acres surrounding a fortress on the San Juan Nationwide Historic Web site that the federal company operates in Outdated San Juan. If the group fails to take away the cats inside six months, the park service mentioned it will rent a removing company.
Cat lovers responded to the plan with dismay, however the company famous that the felines can transmit diseases to people. “All guests will profit from the removing of a possible illness 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 presently helps take care of the cats and which hopes to be chosen to implement the plan.
“Anybody who has labored with cats is aware of that’s inconceivable,” Salicrup mentioned. “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 known 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 lots of to the enchantment of some residents and vacationers, and the disgust of others.
Guests will be seen snapping photos of cats each day as residents and volunteers with Save a Gato are likely 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 guests and cats and the odor of urine and feces are … inconsistent with the cultural panorama.”
Last year, the U.S. National Park Service held a hearing as a part of a plan it mentioned would enhance the protection of tourists and workers and defend cultural and pure assets. It provided two choices: take away the cats or hold the established order.
Those that attended overwhelmingly rejected the primary choice, with one man describing the cats as “one of many wonders of Outdated 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, mentioned 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 mentioned with fun.
The U.S. Park Service plan unveiled Tuesday requires present cat feeding stations to be eliminated except they’re getting used quickly to assist lure the felines. It famous that unauthorized feeding of the cats is prohibited, that it attracts rats and encourages individuals searching for to desert their cats to take action in that space, understanding they’ll be fed.
The company plan says the animal welfare group that’s chosen will probably be tasked with deciding whether or not the trapped cats will probably be adopted, positioned in a foster residence, saved in a shelter or face different choices.
Salicrup mentioned it’s tough to search 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 not convey 100 cats right here,’” she mentioned.
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 removing company.
