Save The Feral Cats at Chaminade University of Honolulu, HI
- by: Martha Girdany
- recipient: President (Bro. Bernard Ploeger) and Chancellor (Rev. Marty Solma) of Chaminade University
Chaminade Universiy of Honolulu, Hawaii is home to a colony of about 120 feral cats. Volunteers have been feeding and TNRM-ing (trap-neuter-release-manage) them for over a decade. Now the President, Bro. Bernard Ploeger, has issued an order that volunteers are no longer permitted on campus to feed the cats. These cats have become dependent on humans for food, and they are dying.
The University issued a press release saying that the feral colony is causing danger to students, faculty and staff. In addition, the University said that there are liability issues for the volunteers -- who have publicly stated that they will sign waivers of liability. People also drop unwanted, and not neutered, cats on campus. Without the volunteers to trap and neuter the new animals that arrive, the cat population will increase.
It is inhumane to withdraw food from cats who have become dependent on humans for sustenance. And the University claim that the cats will just revert to their wild state and hunt for food is ridiculous. Cats have died, and are dying: death by starvation is NOT pretty.
Dear Bro. Ploeger and Rev. Solma:
Please revoke your order that is keeping volunteers from feeding the feral cat colony on the campus of Chaminade University.
These cats have been taken care of by volunteers for over a decade and are now dependent on humans to provide them food. Without the human-provided sustenance, they will die. These cats will not spontaneously revert to their wild state and start catching food, and this is particularly true of the older cats in the colony. These cats are dying of starvation, and that kind of death is inhumane and not pleasant.
We hope you will show mercy and kindness and revoke your decision to stop the feeding of the feral cats on your campus. Please, PLEASE, consider our request, and SOON: cats are dying.
Thank you for your attention.
