Save a Gato
By Patricia Davila
10 Aug 2008
Walking along El Paseo de la Princesa (Passage of the Princess) in Old San Juan, it's hard to ignore the feline presence roaming the rocky shores in front of the 500-year-old El Morro fortress. At first one thinks that it just might be a few stray cats that have made their way toward the shore, perhaps because of an easier access to fish and to find a nice place to lay out in the sun (as cats do enjoy sunbathing). But, you can't help but notice as you walk, seeing more and more of them. You wonder if they might be the same few cats darting in and out of bushes and in between the large rocks, because after all, they have the same chunk taken out of their left ears--every single one of them. But then you realize--it's really a whole colony of cats that lurk the jagged shores.
Nobody really knows where these cats came from, but the tourists seem to be rather amused by them. A few of them are rather skiddish, some will walk right up to you and rub up against your leg and follow you around for a while, and the rest--well, the rest just don't seem to care at all what is going on. As amusing and interesting as this colony of cats might be, they are in a bit of what we would call a crisis.
The Health Department in Puerto Rico wants to exterminate this colony of cats. Sounds a bit harsh, doesn't it? But, thanks to www.saveagato.org, these cats stand a chance. With their efforts to negotiate a trap/neuter/release option with the Department of Health and the National Park Services, the cat population can be controlled instead of wiped out as a whole. With only a $28 donation, one can provide for the capture of one of these cats so that they may be neutered. As soon as they recover from surgery they have one of their ears clipped for identification, are placed back into their colony, and fed regularly by park services. Not a bad deal, right?
The Health Department still does not agree with the trap/neuter/release option and is still working toward the extermination route. But, the Save a Gato organization is working against that. If you go to their website you can sign an ongoing petition supporting the trap/neuter/release plan. With this colony quickly becoming an important symbol for Old San Juan, many people are willing to stand up against a mass murder of these harmless felines.
