Meet the Feral Cats of Disneyland

[snopes]

Meet the 200 or so feral cats of Disneyland.

By day, they reside in five permanent feeding stations hidden within the park's 85 public acres.

But by night, they're on the prowl for any mice who haven't removed their costumes and gone home.

It's true. I didn't believe it at first, either.

http://lagunabeach.patch.com/article...yland-4cd0da6d

[LizzyBean]

That is totally awesome.

[Horse Chestnut]

Outside cats can be kept and cared for humanely, but I kind of wish this had stayed Disneyland's little secret. I'm sure there will be more than one S.O.B. who will think it a great idea to drop their unwanted pet off in the Disneyland or Disney World parking lot after hours "because he'll be well taken care of. I read it online." Kind of the 21st century version of dropping "Fluffy" off at someone's farm.

[SatansHobbit]

I'm an Aussie and I hate, absolutely NFBSKing hate, feral cats!

Maybe you guys don't have unique small marsupials that are being decimated by them.

[kitap]

I've seen them from the train- they were lounging on chairs at the Hungry Bear.

ETA: Here it's songbirds they are decimating, Satan's Hobbit. But Disneyland is in an urban environment; nothing endangered to go after.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Also, we don't have quite the public awareness campaign about the level of destruction caused by feral cats in the US as Australia does.

And I suspect that we have more people who just don't care.

[kitap]

Originally Posted by crocoduck_hunter

And I suspect that we have more people who just don't care.

Definitely this. "But it's cruel to keep cats inside!" No, it isn't. Immy gets plenty of exercise and I don't have to worry about her getting munched on by the bobcat I know wanders through the apartment complex sometimes. Or hit by a car. Or die from lapping up spilled anti-freeze.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Interesting this should come up. I recently took a vacation with someone who worked at Disneyland in the early 70s (she met her husband there), and she told me about the cats and the reasons for them.

Seaboe

[Garnet Jello]

I'll admit that the issue with feral cats decimating wildlife is part of the reason why I'm not continuing to pursue a career in environmental science, and I have the hunch that this issue will be more visible to the U.S. is the distant future. As much as I hate seeing other species being driven into extinction by cats, I'm someone who loves cats too much, and I personally wouldn't be able follow through with more drastic methods of controlling outdoor cat populations even if my career counted on it.

[Brad from Georgia]

We've seen feral cats at Disney World, too. My daughter used to work there and said there were at least a hundred, probably more, in the Magic Kingdom alone.

[Tootsie Plunkette]

There's a colony of feral cats under the Boardwalk at Atlantic City; they apparently survived Sandy OK.

There's also a crew of working cats at Longwood Gardens in PA. They are rescues but don't seem to be especially feral.

[Sue]

The cathouse on the Hill is no more.

A veritable institution for decades, the Parliament Hill cat sanctuary has been “disbanded” at the request of the volunteers who’ve been managing it, according to the federal Public Works department.

In its heyday, the sanctuary provided a home for more than two dozen felines. But spaying and neutering over the years has reduced the population to such an extent that as recently as a couple of weeks ago only four cats remained. The decision was made to shut down the sanctuary and the few remaining — and aging — animals were adopted by volunteers.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/La...933/story.html

[lioness]

Originally Posted by kitap

Definitely this. "But it's cruel to keep cats inside!" No, it isn't. Immy gets plenty of exercise and I don't have to worry about her getting munched on by the bobcat I know wanders through the apartment complex sometimes. Or hit by a car. Or die from lapping up spilled anti-freeze.

In my area, there have been cases where coyotes have killed and munched on cats. When I was growing up, I had a cat die after he had snacked on a rat that had been poisoned. That's another issue for cats, since in areas where people put out poison to get rid of rodents, cats who are natural hunters, often end up being the unintended victims.

[geminilee]

Originally Posted by SatansHobbit

Maybe you guys don't have unique small marsupials that are being decimated by them.

I don't think many places outside of Australia do. Only the Americas even have marsupials*, and those have been preyed on by a wide range of placental predators of varying sizes and descriptions for a very long time. Most places wandering cats are mostly a problem for birds and small placental mammals.

*Coming from Florida, and thinking of an oppossum as those scary looking things, it is hard for me to imagine any cat other than Greebo menacing them. It is quite easy for me to imagine the reverse situation, though.

[Auburn Red]

You know seeing as how Disneyland's star is a large mouse, I would think that most cats would avoid that place.


Yes I believe there is a UL that Six Flags St. Louis has a feral cat colony as well, under one of the rides that closed down but I can't find any further information on it, so it may not be true and just an FOAF UL. For fellow St. Louisians I believe it was the Powder Keg AKA Hannibarrels .

[Cervus]

My mother has owned cats for over 30 years, and they've always been kept indoors. But her houses have always had large outdoor screened porches where the cats can roam around, sun themselves, chase little critters like lizards that get on the porch, and eyeball larger fare like squirrels that climb on the screen. I think that's an ideal situation for a cat, as it can exercise some of its predatory instincts while still remaining safely "indoors".

[moonfall]

My friends have dubbed their neighborhood possum "Ugly Kitty" after one of them mistook the possum for a cat.

I'm not surprised that the Disney parks have feral cats. I see them pretty much everywhere else, and with all the food people leave around, there's lots for them to eat (or they could eat the rodents and birds that go after the leftover food). Not sure about Disneyland, but Disney World in Florida probably has all kinds of wildlife. On one trip to Disney World, I saw armadillos by the roadside in the area before you get to the parking lots.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by moonfall

My friends have dubbed their neighborhood possum "Ugly Kitty" after one of them mistook the possum for a cat.

There's a long-haired black semi-feral* cat in our apartment complex called Trash Bag because it's caretaker once mistook a trash bag for the cat.

*It's more stray than feral, and the caretakers are working toward bringing it inside to live.

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by moonfall

My friends have dubbed their neighborhood possum "Ugly Kitty" after one of them mistook the possum for a cat...

I once mistook a dead possum for one of my cats. It was by the neighbor's driveway. When I saw it, I was horrified and sad and then realizing it was not my cat and that my cat looked like a dead possum I stated laughing. I'm not sure what the neighbor watching me the whole time thought was going on with that interaction.

[Brad from Georgia]

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

I once mistook a dead possum for one of my cats. It was by the neighbor's driveway. When I saw it, I was horrified and sad and then realizing it was not my cat and that my cat looked like a dead possum I stated laughing. I'm not sure what the neighbor watching me the whole time thought was going on with that interaction.

Better than mistaking a live possum for your cat, bringing it inside, and then thinking your cat had died because the possum was playing possum.