Jan 6, 2009 7:29 am US/Eastern
Homeless Cat Population Booming In Bucks Co. Parks
LANGHORNE, Pa. (CBS 3) ―
The slumping economy has been tough on all of us, but it is causing some to get rid of their pets. Instead of taking them to shelters, many are abandoning them in nearby parks.
More and more people are abandoning their cats at the Bucks County SPCA and at local parks because they can no longer afford them.
Core Creek Park in Langhorne, Bucks County has been overrun by abandoned cats.
However, Bucks County SPCA director Anne Irwin says the economy is not solely to blame for the sudden cat boom.
"The kitten season seems to have extended longer this year and we have a pretty full house," Irwin said.
While the SPCA is seeing more cats than usual, so are local parks. Many people are dumping them thinking they will survive.
"If a cat has been your house pet, it's not going to fend for itself in a park, that's a terrible adjustment for a cat to make and they're probably not going to survive," Irwin explained.
At Peace Valley Park, three dead kittens were found in one day.
Bucks County Parks and Recreation Director Bill Mitchell says while it's not a new problem, it is a growing one.
"There's just too many just plain being dropped off throughout the whole park system," Mitchell said.
And even the threat of a $750 fine is not stopping people.
"You gotta be there to see them letting the cat out, the cats don't talk to us, don't tell us who the owner was," Mitchell explained.
Residents in the area are so troubled by the act of cat dumping that they are forming neighborhood watch groups to combat the growing problem.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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