HALF-WILD CATS

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1934, Page 11

HALF-WILD CATS

PROBLEM AT WELLINGTON. TWENTY UNDER A BUILDING. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Nov. 10. The inspector to the Wellington Society for the of Cruelty to Animals, Mr. R. A. Nicol,, has spent a good deal of his time recently in the role of cat-catcher. The menace of stray cats in the city, which has been evident for some time, still assumes considerable proportions. As an instance Of the conditions he is meeting every day of tire week, Mr. Nicol took a representative of the Dominion to the back of premises in Manners Street yesterday, where there were about 20 cats living under the building in a small yard. They had been fed as long as possible by the tenants, but in the end the task' became too big, and the inspector was called in to take as many as he could catch’ to the City Council’s lethal chamber. In most cases the cats have no owners, and are often in a Semi-starved and half-wild condition. Among the chief offenders are people who vacate premises and leave their cats behind them, sometimes shut in empty houses and flats. Mr. Nicol is by now a man of considerable experience in the art of catching half-wild cats. He uses for the purpose a bit of tasty fish or “doped” milk, and either puts them through the lethal chamber or shoots them with a captive bolt pistol." In the group which occupied his attention yesterday were 10 grown cats, and as many kittens of varying ages.