Crisis-hit Cats Protection hub gets a reprieve
Cats Protection has granted a partial reprieve to an under-threat branch just days after The Sunday Post revealed it had axed a number of Highlands and Islands hubs.
Volunteers rallied round to offer their services to help vulnerable cats in Ardnamurchan and Mull.
The branch had been in crisis after the retirement of longserving volunteers on the Ardnamurchan peninsula.
But this week they were told the branch had managed to recruit enough new helpers and will continue carrying out work to trap, neuter and return feral cats.
More than 1,700 signed a petition to save it due to fears it would become the latest branch to close.
Branch development manager Lona Johnson said: “Cats Protection is delighted to confirm that a new committee is now in place for the Ardnamurchan and Mull branch, following the wellearned retirement of the previous members after many years of voluntary service.
“The branch is currently unable to take cats in to foster care, but is fully operational for all other aspects of the charity’s work”.
The Sunday Post told last week how Cats Protection had shut branches on Skye, Orkney, Lewis and Harris, and Barra and Uist, and in Nairn. Its Inverness branch is also not currently operational.
The charity had an income of £68 million in 2018 and chief executive James Yeates earns more than £100,000 a year.
It says it will try to find new ways of working in the Highlands and Islands.