Meeting Aims to Halt Catastrophe at Valley College

Deborah Ann Klinger was walking her dog along Coldwater Canyon Avenue last fall when she saw about 30 emaciated cats roaming around a dumpster on the Valley College campus.

Moved by their sickly appearance, the legal secretary from North Hollywood fed the strays, and unknowingly became part of an informal group of college faculty and community residents that cares for the 50 to 100 cats living on campus.

This loosely organized band of cat caretakers feed, trap, sterilize and return the felines to the campus in an attempt to control the cat population. The feral cats would probably be euthanized if taken to an animal shelter because they are deemed wild animals that are unaccustomed to human contact.

“You would think that the campus would be open to people doing this,” Klinger said, “but they’re not.”

Though animal activists laud the caretakers for their humane response to the cat population problem, campus officials argue that the cats pose a health risk to students, staff, faculty and administrators.

School officials said they are concerned about fleas, droppings, and possible diseases being transmitted from stray cats to humans.

Administrators and animal activists plan to meet this morning to discuss ways to resolve the situation. The closed meeting will be the first of several gatherings in which the two sides will work to hammer out a compromise, school officials said. Later sessions will be open to the public.

Today’s meeting comes amid escalating tensions between caretakers and maintenance workers. Each side accuses the other of sabotaging its attempts to keep the feral cats from breeding.

Caretakers allege that maintenance workers and gardeners have removed feeding stations, sealed air vents beneath buildings while cats were still underneath, and abused cats by throwing flashlights and spraying fire extinguishers at them, assertions vehemently denied by college officials.

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The school officials said that vent covers have been kicked in, apparently so cats can come in from the cold and rain.

School officials also said students and faculty have complained about the smell of cat urine and feces emanating from beneath bungalows.

As for the feeding stations, campus officials said work crews removed dishes only if the food attracted insects or appeared spoiled.

“The idea is to control the cat population through surgical means, not through cruelty to the cats,” said Mary Ann Breckell, the college’s vice president of administrative services.

Animal activist Joyce Pieper of Woodland Hills, who advises institutions on how to manage feral cat populations, will attend this morning’s session to help mediate the dispute.

“There needs to be more organization and discussion over there,” Pieper said. “Unless there is a concerted effort to control the cat population, it can get out of hand.”

Pieper said she helped the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk gain control over the 300 stray cats living there by getting maintenance crews and caretakers to work together.

The population was significantly reduced when she advised the hospital to solicit a national animal rights organization for funds to sterilize the cats, Pieper said. The influx of funding relieved the financial burden on caretakers, who would spend $40 to $45 of their own money to have a cat sterilized.

At Valley College, officials should discourage students from abandoning cats, encourage neighborhood residents to sterilize their pets, and realize that removing feeding stations will only force cats to find other food sources, Pieper said.

“[College officials] have to accept the fact that there are going to be cats there,” she said. “But if you keep the population under control, they will help with rodent problems and keep other cats from coming into the area. Hopefully, within a couple of years we can have the problem under control.”