Boeing Long Beach Cats Latest News

Cats

Filed In:

Cats

Boeing Cats Latest News

FLASH! The latest news is that the Boeing Ferals have a reprieve! Follow this link for the story.

The dilemma of the feral cats who make their home at the Boeing facility in Long Beach, CA is still not close to a resolution, but it's starting to create a groundswell of protest activity and brainstorming among cat lovers across the U.S. Indeed, people from so far away as England and Jeruselum have sent emails protesting Boeing's actions in trapping the cats with the ultimate fate of euthanasia.

A Bit of Background
Bill Dyer, Director of In Defense of Animals, Southern California, became aware of Boeing's intent to trap its feral cats at the Long Beach Facility and deliver them to the Long Beach Animal Shelter. After some negotiating, Boeing agreed to a trapping moratorium until a better solution could be found. Late last month negotiations broke down when Boeing rejected IDA's plan of trapping, neutering, and releasing the ferals to another area of the Boeing facility. On Friday, September 1, 2000, Boeing announced it had hired a contractor to trap the feral cats, who would then be taken to the Long Beach Animal Shelter, no doubt to be euthanized after California's 72 hour mandatory waiting time. According to a Press-Telegram article, A.E. Jennings, senior manager for facilities support services at Boeing Long Beach said in a letter to Bill Dyer that the company would not establish sanctuaries for the cats on sites Dyer had proposed. "The proposed sites are in close proximity to employees in high traffic locations. These locations were evaluated and deemed unsuitable for such use by our safety and health group due to a variety of hygiene and employee safety issues, in addition to violating health department codes." Tom Hennessy Press Telegram

A Bit of Background

Bill Dyer, Director of In Defense of Animals, Southern California, became aware of Boeing's intent to trap its feral cats at the Long Beach Facility and deliver them to the Long Beach Animal Shelter. After some negotiating, Boeing agreed to a trapping moratorium until a better solution could be found. Late last month negotiations broke down when Boeing rejected IDA's plan of trapping, neutering, and releasing the ferals to another area of the Boeing facility.

On Friday, September 1, 2000, Boeing announced it had hired a contractor to trap the feral cats, who would then be taken to the Long Beach Animal Shelter, no doubt to be euthanized after California's 72 hour mandatory waiting time.
According to a Press-Telegram article, A.E. Jennings, senior manager for facilities support services at Boeing Long Beach said in a letter to Bill Dyer that the company would not establish sanctuaries for the cats on sites Dyer had proposed.
"The proposed sites are in close proximity to employees in high traffic locations. These locations were evaluated and deemed unsuitable for such use by our safety and health group due to a variety of hygiene and employee safety issues, in addition to violating health department codes."
Tom Hennessy
Press Telegram

Boeing Trapping Halted?

The problem of feral cat overpopulation is not confined to the United States. These cats are in Europe, no doubt awaiting donations of fish at the pier.

An unconfirmed report says there has been a temporary halt of the trapping by Boeing, for an unknown duration, and that the cats are presently being fed by employees. A number of animal advocates have suggested relocating the cats, a few at a time, throughout existing feral cat colonies in the Southern California area. I discussed that approach by telephone this morning with Bill Dyer. His response was that he had explored that avenue thoroughly prior to his ultimate proposal, and there was just no place else they could be taken. Dyer apparently had talked with a number of rescue and/or TNR groups.

	Related Links

	Original Boeing Article Update 9/12/00 Cats Win 11th Hour Reprieve Behind the Scenes Discussions Rescue Groups Feral Cat Management

	Talk About It!

	Write Your Letter to Boeing! " If you've sent a particularly provocative email or letter, share it HERE.

According to Dyer, Boeing is willing to catch the cats, pay for the spay/neutering of them, and then "meet the rescue people at the gate and pass the cats over the fence." Although this does seem to be a bit naive, as Dyer feels, it is still encouraging that Boeing apparently is willing to look at other alternatives. The problem is, of course, that there are close to 200 cats involved, and it is presently virtually impossible to relocate them together as a group.

The protest rally scheduled for Friday, September 15th, 2000, at the Boeing Long Beach facility is still in the works, barring a last minute change of heart by Boeing. People are asked to bring a sign and a bag of dry cat food for the ferals.

More Emails Needed

The emails to Boeing seem to be accomplishing results of a sort. Reports are that they have received 110 emails in one day. More, of course, are needed, as well as emails to news media in the Los Angeles area. Yesterday's update included a list of media addresses where you can send e-mails requesting coverage of the Boeing Feral Crisis.

The bottom line is that Boeing does not want these ferals on its premises. If Boeing officials are successful in ridding the Long Beach facility of its feral cats one way or another, it will be interesting to see if TNR experts are correct in predicting that more cats will just move in to replace them. It seems to be the nature of the feral social system, and only time will tell.