By Bill and Ruth Ann Watkins
The Board of Trustees of the West Valley-Mission Community College District has voted to allow the city of Saratoga to use part of the West Valley campus to satisfy the city's obligation to restore about 1 1/2 acres of wetlands. That responsibility came about when eight or so years ago, a building contractor's crew filled in and thus "destroyed" part of a small creek's bed. They were shoring up an escarpment with soil to lessen the risk of serious damage from any future earthquakes.
Unfortunately, for several years the targeted campus area has been a refuge for 18 to 20 homeless cats whose survival depends upon the efforts of a few dedicated volunteers. These people feed the cats regularly, observe them daily for any apparent symptoms that might require a veterinarian's care and generally try to provide the cats an alternative to being trapped and killed.
One might think that the relatively limited space required for the wetlands project could easily leave room for this small colony of animals to exist. However, the terms negotiated in the college-city agreement require an absolute removal of all the cats so that "the natural habitat of the area can be restored for instructional purposes."
Because the cats have really been orphans since their abandonment to the campus, they have no protection other than the charity of the volunteers, unless enough kind and conscientious humans can be found to adopt them and offer the sanctuary of a caring permanent home.
To their credit, almost a dozen WVC staff and faculty members, led by the president of the board of trustees, Arne Lunde, have already committed themselves to do just that.
However, there's still a need for about 8 to 10 adoption offers. The regular volunteers are already providing homes to multiple cats, typically, and are feeding the campus colony as well. They don't have much more space. For that reason, if you could possibly rescue one or more of these small, innocent animals from a cruelty that would shame us all, please write to us at P.O. Box 2456, Saratoga, 95070. There are many healthy, clean, beautiful and trusting creatures among this little colony, all spayed or neutered and requiring only a minimum amount of food, shelter and love.
We'd be happy to introduce them to you.
Bill and Ruth Ann Watkins are among the volunteers aiding West Valley's cats.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, November 20, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved