Feral cats at future 2012 Olympics site

If people send polite emails now to Ken Livingstone, Mayor Of London - mayor@london.gov.uk - something can be done about this disgusting situation:

Urge the Olympic Delivery Authority to Allow Rescue of Feral Cats From Deadly Demolition Area.

Hundreds of feral cats living at the site of the future Olympic Park in London - where demolition is already underway - are in danger of starving as their food sources have been eliminated, being crushed by heavy machinery or being buried under rubble when the buildings they live in are demolished.

Mother cats and kittens are especially vulnerable, as mother cats are extremely protective of their young and will remain with their kittens in the most dangerous areas rather than abandon their babies. Since most feral cats flee and hide when humans approach, it's virtually impossible to ensure that buildings are clear of cats before demolition begins.

The Celia Hammond Animal Trust (CHAT) is an animal rescue group that has already rescued 157 cats and kittens. Inexplicably, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is barring CHAT from accessing the site to trap and safely remove the remaining cats - even though the trappers have all the relevant construction safety qualifications to allow them to operate on the site and are only requesting permission to access the road outside the site to set up feeding stations and traps. Preventing these cats from being rescued is essentially a death sentence for these animals.

Please write to, e-mail or call the ODA and ask them to allow the CHAT adequate time to rescue these cats, including time to set up feeding stations to acclimate the cats to being fed in certain areas as a prelude to trapping. As well as time to monitor nursing cats in order to locate and remove litters of kittens hidden in dangerous areas.

Please send polite comments to:

London 2012
1 Churchill Place
Canary Wharf
London E14 5LN
0203 2012 000

Or email via this page -

http://www.london2012.com/contact-us.php


Also there is a petition here

[G]

oooo a black pointy in notts not seen you about.

I dont think this will work in the slightest though unfortunately.

Feral cats are classed as a pest, they cant be rehomed as they are wild. There was articles i think to do with this in the times magazine a couple of weeks ago with arguements from both sides, i didnt know which one was argueing the better case.

This is the bit where I get all fluffy. You didn't know I had a fluffy side did you? You lot thought I was just argumentative git.

Our two cats were ferals, so they can kinda be rehomed, but, and there's a big but coming up, if you catch them early. One was retrieved from Cheltenham rubbish dump, the other from Homebase. Both were between 5 and 8 months old when we got them (from a rescue centre) and they were extremely feral for a good couple of months, we had to keep them in a (very large) cage in the corner of the room for about a month before they settled down and began to trust us. But now they're just like any other pet cats, ever so affectionate. That said, they are a teensy bit feral still, they're the best rat catchers in the neighbourhood (much to our dismay, but the neighbours love it); they're also the best at "catching" two week old ham out of rubbish bins - neither us or the neighbours are too keen on that aspect. And it also has to be said that that the rescue centre had a number of mummy and daddy cats (themselves probably no more than a year old) and admitted they had little hope and would probably be put to sleep.

Better to humanely destroy than blow up with dynamite though. But like Graeme says, it's a toughy; everytime you build anything, you're doubtless going to kill scores of critters, and sometimes those critters will be furry and look a bit cute.

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

This is the bit where I get all fluffy. You didn't know I had a fluffy side did you? You lot thought I was just argumentative git.

Blimey!!! Never thought I'd see the day...., Hold the Presses!!!!... etc etc

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Better to humanely destroy than blow up with dynamite though. But like Graeme says, it's a toughy; everytime you build anything, you're doubtless going to kill scores of critters, and sometimes those critters will be furry and look a bit cute.

Agreed!

Sorry, I really don't care about feral cats...

drown em

Originally Posted by helen

Sorry, I really don't care about feral cats...

Am I seeing right? A woman who doesn't like cats?

Erm why should we worry about an non-native, non-wild species which should be removed from the environment when they do so much damage to the local fauna?
I'm more worried about the native flora and fauna of that area, especially invertibrates....
Ferral cats? Sorry - shoot 'em! Get 'em out of the habitat!!

Yeah, I'm sure loads of cockroaches and rats will be killed as well, but no-one gives a crap about that do they?

Cats are evil and must be destroyed.

Originally Posted by Lozzo

Am I seeing right? A woman who doesn't like cats?

My missus hates cats. I suspect she hates me too