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Aug 14, 2008 12:16 am US/Pacific
Abandoned Cats In San Jose Lot Need Homes
Kiet Do, Reporting
SAN JOSE (CBS 5) ―
For years, people have been ditching unwanted cats at a old horse barn near Highway 237 and 880 in San Jose. But the colony of wild and abandoned cats is living on borrowed time.
The lease on the land is up, and the City of San Jose is taking it back on October 15th.
"There's a definite chance that they will die," said Barbara Glusker of the Morgan Hill-based rescue group
Town Cats. She said the group will trap the cats and adopt out the friendly ones.
"We need people who have property," Glusker said, "where we can put two, three, five, (or) ten cats."
If the volunteers can't rescue all the cats, San Jose officials said they can stay if they don't cause problems. But the city does have the right to trap and adopt them out, or possibly euthanize them.
Adding to the urgency and controversy is burrowing owls in a field just 1,600 feet away from the cats, raising questions of whether the cats are threatening the owls. The Santa Clara Audubon Society said the distance between the cats and owls are too close.
The owls have been classified as a "species of special consideration." Once there were hundreds in the area, but only six remain in the field.
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