Almería Activists Request Halting Train Work to Protect Cat Colonies

ALMERÍA’s Animal and Environmental Party (PACMA) has requested that the City Council stop all underground works in areas populated by feral cats as the activists work to relocate them safely. According to Diario de Almería, there are about 100 feral cats living in the city, which live in colonies managed and monitored by local residents. 

In a letter addressed to the city’s Councilor for Environmental Sustainability Antonio Urdiales and obtained by Diario de Almería, local PACMA coordinator Eduardo Milla has asked that work on the city’s train tracks be temporarily ceased to prevent the colonies from being harmed. Additionally, he highlights the need for the city to consider the safety and health of the colonies as they’re relocated. 

Almeria is known for its large feral cat population. In some municipalities within the province, city governments have adopted “Catch Neuter Release” programs which entail trapping cats, neutering them, then releasing them back into the streets as a means of controlling the population. In the past, the city has organised extermination programs to control growing populations, which drew condemnation from activists and local residents. 

Along with PACMA, the cats are cared for by generous volunteers with time to spare, often spending hours of their days and nights with the animals. Volunteers say the large population is mostly due to people abandoning their pets. Many of the cat colonies are known to inhabit specific areas, and some have even been given names.