Cat-astrophic!
CALL IT the case of Astoria’s disappearing stray cats.
Once prominent in Astoria, felines across the neighborhood seem to be disappearing at an alarming rate, according to several people who have fed and cared for them.
“They’re gone!” said Mary Witty, a college administrator who fed and sheltered eight cats in her backyard before all but one vanished over the past month.
“I didn’t think foul play immediately — that’s not where my mind went,” added Witty.
But after she launched a massive campaign, papering the neighborhood with signs and posting messages on social media, Witty began hearing frightening tales: tuna cans laced with antifreeze, traps hidden in garages and a dead cat in a box by Astoria Park.
“I called 311, 911, the local precinct and the ASPCA,” said Witty, who created the page Astoria7.org. “They won’t respond.”
In addition, the ASPCA has just transferred its responsibility for investigating animal cruelty cases to the NYPD.
Melissa Saldiveri lives near Witty and has been feeding cats for more than two decades. She has lost 10 cats from her colony since the summer.
“Half of the neighborhood is trying to care for them and the other half is very angry,” said Saldiveri, who pointed out that people who feed free-roaming or feral cats often deal with threats from the occasional complaining neighbor.
She has heard neighbors complain. Chillingly, a young child warned her the cats would be killed.
Experts admit it’s difficult to respond without hard proof a crime has taken place.
“It’s understandable they are frustrated,” said one former supervisor of Humane Law Enforcement at the ASPCA.
Witty has taken pains to keep p her backyard tidy and provides alllweather shelters for the cats. She allso had the cats spayed and neutered d to control their population.
She is asking animal lovers and d fellow caretakers to go to the Commmunity Board 1 meeting on Jan. 21 1 to bring attention to the problem.
“I don’t want anyone else to go o through this,” she said.