Melissa Deane ’04, is always worried when walking around campus at night. However Deane isn’t nervous because of muggers or other criminals, she’s worried because of cats. Stray cats to be exact.
“Whenever I walk back to my dorm from the library at night, I always have to avoid these cats. I’m scared of getting bitten or worse getting rabies,” Deane said.
She is not alone in her worries. When walking or driving around campus, one cannot help but notice the large amount of stray cats running around. In fact one cannot help but trip over them sometimes, or slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them. University Fire Marshall Joe Bouchard confirms that the school has a problem with stray cats – and no solution is in sight.
Ally Cat Allies, the National Feral Cat Resource, says that feral cats are literally cats “gone wild.” They are domestic cats that have reverted to a wild state after being lost or abandoned, or cats that have born outside to other strays. Feral cats inflict damage on the ecosystem in large numbers by killing mass amounts of birds, as well as carrying bacteria and rabies.
University Security reports that there have been no reported instances of a person on campus being bitten by a cat or becoming sick due to contact.
So what is Fairfield doing to solve this problem of overpopulation? Bouchard says, “At the present time, nothing.” Two years ago efforts were made to safely remove the cats, as well as spade them and give them shots, but with the departure of Dr. Randy Chambers, a science teacher at Fairfield University, those efforts have ceased, he said.
Bouchard says that the problem lies with the students. He says that students living in the townhouses feed the strays, and also throw their garbage on the ground attracting the unwanted felines.
“Eliminate the trash thrown on the ground, particularly in the townhouses. The students need to take action,” he said.
Students aren’t so sure they are the sole problem.
“The cats are a nuisance. We take care not to leave any food or cans out at our house, but they still hang around,” said townhouse resident Jami Delo, ’03. “A black cat literally almost came in our door. The school should do something about it.”
Junior Allison Wren, also a townhouse resident, doesn’t feel as strongly against the cats. “I think they’re cute,” she says, but agrees, “they need to be controlled.”
Mike Burke, who comes in contact with the cats often since he lives in Claver, where many of the cats flock, says, “I don’t have a problem with the cats. I would rather see cats than skunks and raccoons.”
Despite these opinions the major consensus of students, especially those that live in the townhouses and are more exposed to the cats, is that this is a problem that needs attention. Tom Callahan, a junior currently living in a townhouse says, “I feel the stray cats should be removed. I am in constant fear of getting rolled up on by a pack of cats that don’t seem to know I live here. They think they own the land, but I’ll show them someday.”
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