The e-mail blasts from the Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights' Aaron Brashear usually contain updates on development controversies and other 'hood hot topics, but his missive sent out this morning took on a more personal tone than usual. Tucked between Sunset Park and Park Slope is the sprawling Green-Wood Cemetery (Minerva, holla!), which, according to Brashear, nearly got an unwelcome visitor:
So, Mic and I are eating breakfast this morning and we see a white van pull up across the street from us on the Green-Wood Cemetery side of the street. I am always weary of cars we don't know on the block, especially vans, since they normally mean:
1. illegal dumping
2. romantic rendez-vous
3. drug deals
4. pee breakNo need to rant on that again. So, as is our habit (and we feel like a bunch of old biddies), we goto to the window to see what's up (the pro and con of having a home-based studio).
Two guys are in the van, one guy still in the driver's seat, the other fishing something out of the back...having a tough time with it. By the time I get to the door, he's hauling out a trap cage. My first thought is RACCOON, which i have dealt with (normally with loud voices and the occasional sentence enhancer), but this looks smaller...a CAT.
A conversation (again, loud voices) ensues:
Me: What the heck are you doing? Is that a feral cat?
Guy: What do you mean?
Me: Are you releasing that feral cat in front of MY HOUSE and into Green-Wood?
Guy: Well of course I am! Why wouldn't I?
Me: It is illegal to release feral cats, let alone on a residential block or in Green-Wood. If you release that cat here or anywhere int he neighborhood, I'm calling the cops.
Guy: OK, we'll leave.
Me: What the heck are you thinking?
Guy: Says nothing, puts cat back into van, exit stage left. (unfortunately to release the cat up the block, I assume)
I have contacted CB7 and will be calling 3-1-1 with the situation, make of the van and the license plate...but what the hell was going through these guy's minds?
With out getting into a feral cat debate (pro/con) or CNR programs (pro/con...which this was not), how irresponsible, and quite frankly inhumane, can people be? Not just to the animal, but the potential kill factor for migratory birds via Green-Wood and the nuisance for our back yards...
So if you notice a new mixed tiger stripped (brown) and white cat, you know where it came from.
The "Well of course I am!" response leads us to believe that there are plety of other feral cats calling Green-Wood Cemetery home, in which case, we are bracing for the coming critter war.
· Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights [ccgreenwoodhts.com]
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