Thursday, July 2, 2009

Beverly Hills Says: Starve the Cats - Or Go to Jail

(If they have an ordinance against feeding cats, she broke it)
Beverly Hills to Jail 65-Year-Old for Feeding Stray Cats

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., June 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Wednesday morning, July 1, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. in Beverly Hills Superior Court, 9355 Burton Way, Division 2, Katherine Varjian, age 65, could be sentenced to jail for feeding stray cats. Varjian has been doing this for 12 years at her own expense. Without her, the cats would starve, or be picked up by the shelter, or be euthanized.

Each morning and each evening, the little group of 20 or so cats come quietly padding into an alley in the lushly landscaped and star-studded City of Beverly Hills The cats are so hungry, but not starving thanks to Varjian who has reduced the stray/feral cat population and found homes for as many as 40 cats and kittens yearly, for the last 12 years.

Neighbors, blaming Varjian for the profound increase in coyotes have signed a petition to force her to stop feeding the cats. They claim that Varjian, feeding only a two block area, is responsible for the increase in predatory coyotes throughout the entire Beverly Hills. The reality is that park like conditions, access to water, mansion-ization in the hills and canyons and drought conditions have sent the numbers of coyotes on residential streets sky rocketing in search of food.

2 comments:

Rouben said...

There is no law or ordinance against feeding cats in LA County which Beverly Hills falls under. It has adopted this law after eliminating its own law against feeding cats a while back. So currently, no law has been broken.

Bird Advocate said...

I'm sure they will find her innocent then, unless they decide to find her guilty of attracting a nuisance animal animal, ie the coyotes, to feed on the cats and the cat food.
I wish I'd called the Health Department on my two doors down neighbor years ago. He feeds cat food in his garage 24/7.