Who let the cats out?
Once a peaceful getaway for humans to relax, Tonawanda Island is now a cat’s dream lair—so much so that cats have literally overtaken the island.
The cats have been released by owners who no longer want to care for them, leaving the cats to reproduce very quickly.
Wayne Howard, resident of North Tonawanda, recounted his experience witnessing the cats being abandoned: "I’ve caught people dumping them off at the road. They just unload them on the island."
"They’re multiplying horrendously. There’s just too many cats is what it boils down to," said Mike Charnock, owner of the Shores Waterfront Restaurant & Marina.
Tonawanda Island’s four legged felines hide during the day and scamper out in the evening, when Charnock’s restaurant starts to fill up.
Residents of the island have deemed the cats a nuisance, complaining about the mess they leave. "I’ve caught them on my boat a few times and they made messes; they’re just a problem," Howard said.
All love for the cats is not lost, though. Benevolent resident Danielle Coogan has made it her mission to spay and neuter the resident felines. She admitted, "This is a small island with a big cat problem," but has pledged to bring some order to the chaos. She has dubbed her new project "Operation Island Cats." All adult cats will be spayed, neutered, and vaccinated before they are released back into their paradise, while the cute kittens will be adopted by loving homes. "They’re just cats that no one really cares about so we are going to try and clean up the island," she said. So far, Coogan has been successful in her feline saving endeavor: in the last ten days, she has trapped ten cats. Thankfully, some of the island’s residents have also shown their charitable sides by filling trays of dry and wet food and leaving it for the furry felines.