The cats were removed from an elementary school but advocates are concerned with how that happened.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Animal welfare advocates want to know where three cats are after Albuquerque Public Schools moved them from Adobe Acres Elementary to an Isleta farm.
APS staff member Shannon Porch told KOB 4 she has cared for the cats at Adobe Acres Elementary for more than three years.
“I guess I felt devastated because on one hand, first I was asked, what can we do about them? They need to be moved,” Porch said.
Porch said she found the cats outside her office and contacted Street Cat Hub. It’s a nonprofit that offers free spay and neutering for community cats.
“Reached out to Street Cat Hub, super scared. Miss Chelsea there helped me learn how to manage the traps. At that point in time, I was able to trap 10,” Porch said.
The cats were spayed or neutered, vaccinated and returned. Porch said students knew the cats and interacted with them from a distance.
“So they saw them and enjoyed them from a distance, but they grew to love them. And honestly, I always had little water bowls outside my office and so they would ask, can I refill their water bowls? Absolutely. So personally, I took it also as not only my love for these little cats, but also as an amazing teaching moment for these kids to teach compassion and care,” Porch said.
What happened next?
As APS prepared for the new school year, a district representative said administrators saw five or six cats on campus and raised health and safety concerns.
APS said stray and feral cats could carry diseases, bring dead prey onto school property and scratch or bite a curious child. The district said an outside contractor trapped three cats.
“And what was more, I guess, sad and devastating was that a pest control company was used to trap these cats,” Porch said.
APS said the contractor first called the county but got no response. The district said workers then took all three cats to an open farm in Isleta, where cats are used for rodent control.
Street Cat Hub questions release
Street Cat Hub said it questions how the cats were released and whether they went through an acclimation process.
“Because when you relocate them without an acclimation process, like Shannon was saying, they don’t stay, they try to get back home, they get hit by cars, they get eaten by predators on the way. And with a proper acclimation process, that means you’re putting them somewhere where there is access to resources. So not only is there that acclimation process, but there’s food, there’s water, there’s shelter,” Chelsea Winter said.
Winter said someone told her the cats did not go through that acclimation process.
“And really all we want to know is where the cats are. And if the cats are alive and being fed and doing well on a farm somewhere, then that shouldn’t be an issue,” Winter said. “They should be able to tell us where they are and we can just double check, make sure they’re okay.”
Street Cat Hub said it wants to work with APS on trap, neuter and return.
“I think it’s just about TNR being the most effective way and like us wanting to, there’s no blame. It’s like we want to work with APS, we want to work with pest control companies, we want to educate,” Winter said.
Porch has moved to work as a counselor at another school after some of the cats were removed. Street Cat Hub said it has worked with staff members on other APS campuses to support a safe cat community and hopes to work more with APS on trap, neuter and return.
