Benissa allocates €9,000 to sterilise 150 stray cats

€9,000 has been allocated by the Benissa Town Council, who have for some time worked closely with cat charities, to sterilise 150 of the stray cats in the town.  

The money announced on June 8 will be accompanied by an information campaign to make residents more aware of the need to sterilise their own animals, as it will the need to ensure that cats simply aren’t dumped when they are no longer wanted.

Local cat charity Adopta Bernia says that there is a never-ending stream of cats that are abandoned with many of those rescued being sent abroad to new homes, as there simply are not enough homes locally.

Benissa Town Council estimates that the number of cats they have obtained funding from the Provincial Council to sterilise accounts for only around one-fifth of the feral cats in and around the town.

They have appealed to residents not to abandon their pet cats as they have not to feed the feral ones, which is prohibited. Local charities however say that simply not feeding the cats will do little to resolve the problem, with feral cats that aren’t fed relying on scavenging and the killing of local wildlife to survive.

Feeding schemes do help to keep the colony healthy and those that are fed can be more easily caught for sterilisation,

As they say, this figure only represents a fifth of the total feline population, so they resort to public awareness to collaborate in the task. Specifically, they appeal to avoid the abandonment of animals and not to feed cats in the street due to its express legal prohibition.

Benissa Town Council will be working with the two local charities Adopta Bernia and Pluto to use the €9,000 budget to sterilise 150 stray cats over the next four years.

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