To save lizards, feral cats are to be removed from state park

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For decades a colony of feral cats has lived at the San Elijo Campground in Cardiff on the coast of northern San Diego County. But now Brian Ketterer, sector superintendent for the California State Park system, has said the cats have to go--lest they disrupt the lizards and birds that are native California species.

The lizards -- California legless and orange-throated whiptail -- are listed as of ‘special concern’ to conservationists. Patti Mosel, a leader in a San Diego group called the Feral Cat Coalition, is appealing the decision to Ketterer’s bosses and also to California First Lady Maria Shriver. Mosel has cared for the San Elijo cats for a dozen years. She has relocated more than 50 and continues to feed the remaining dozen. (Two are pictured here.)

Ketterer says he recently discovered a state parks rule banning feral cats. He’s concerned that the cats, even though Mosel feeds them, may begin eating the lizards and birds. ‘You have a carnivorous feral cat, they’re going to forage,’ he said.

Mosel says she has found a cat sanctuary in Fresno ready to take the cats. But she is worried that she cannot meet the June 13 deadline to remove the cats because they are too smart to be trapped that quickly. All have been trapped before to be taken away for spaying or neutering before being returned. Mosel and her group have been caring for feral cats since 1992 throughout the county.

‘They’re everywhere,’ she said. ‘People don’t notice them because the cats are nocturnal and fairly hidden.’

-- Tony Perry, in Cardiff