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JFK feral cats facing death

By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | MNaanes@am-ny.com

October 30, 2007

The Port Authority has started rounding up feral cats at Kennedy Airport, and the first of evicted felines could be euthanized Tuesday.

About 50 cat group members unsuccessfully rallied outside Port Authority headquarters to stop the trapping Monday, but the protesters were told the agency would pay to spay and neuter the cats if the groups relocated them.

The cat groups, however, said many of the felines couldn't be turned into house cats, and the shelter accepting them said many of the JFK kitties would likely have to be euthanized.

"We are not going to be able to hold the cats for a long period of time -- it's a pretty quick decision," said Richard Gentles, spokesman for Animal Care and Control, which will try to weed out adoptable cats but doesn't have room for them all.

The Port Authority has said the cats -- there are between 50 and 75 of them -- pose health and safety problems near the Delta Air Lines cargo area partly because food left for them attracts birds that can fly into jet engines. Animal advocacy groups, including the ASPCA, have offered to spay and neuter the cats and monitor them on site, a practice that has decreased feral cat populations elsewhere.

A feral cat population at Rikers Island decreased by about half -- from about 450 to about 225 -- in the past five years under a feeding and sterilizing program, according to the city Department of Correction. Neighborhood Cats, a group protesting the authority, has helped cut down other cat colony populations with spaying and neutering programs, largely called "trap-neuter-return."

A Port Authority spokesman said Monday that returning the cats to Kennedy Airport is not an option.

"Airports that serve 50 million people are not an appropriate place for a large, wild cat colony," Pasquale DiFulco said.

Yet animal groups who organized Monday's rally said removing the felines would prove to be as difficult as herding cats. Untrapped cats will return and continue to reproduce.

"Whether you love the cats or hate the cats, the only way to reduce them is to sterilize them," Neighborhood Cats spokesman Bryan Kortis said.

People interested in inquiring about possibly adopting the JFK cats or other felines can call Animal Care and Control at 212-788-4000.