San Anton cats 'well-fed and loved'

The Environmental Landscapes Consortium is on a mission to placate animal lovers and assure them that the cats which have been taken away from San Anton Gardens are happy in the sprawling grounds of Wied Incita, in Attard.

Consortium general manager Ronald Cuschieri said the numerous letters that have been appearing in The Times in the past days were "much ado about nothing".

The letters were from concerned cat lovers who said they were "shocked" and "appalled" at the disappearance of the cats from San Anton. Some even hinted at the possibility that the friendly felines were being put to sleep.

One letter said it had been "confirmed" that the cats "were simply put in a field close to Wied Incita to fend for themselves, obviously without food and water".

Dr Cuschieri said it was extremely aggravating to read these letters when he could prove to anybody who had the decency to check their facts before writing letters, that these cats were well fed and loved by all his employees.

He explained that the whole furore erupted when the consortium transferred some of the cats from San Anton to Wied Incita because they were destroying the flowers planted by consortium employees.

"All we did is reduce the cat colony at San Anton and gave the cats a good home on our land. We do not mind having cats in public gardens but we cannot let the cat population get out of hand," he argued.

"Anybody can come here and see for themselves that the cats are very well treated and fed every day by the employees. What's being said spun from unfounded rumours," Dr Cuschieri said.

Rita Cachia, one of the employees and the chief carer of cats at Wied Incita, proudly showed off one entire cupboard in the staff kitchen full of tins of mackerel and other cat food and said that employees often brought home-cooked food for the cats. Practically all the cats had names too.

As she went to the garden holding tins of food, a few plump, healthy-looking cats appeared, despite the pouring rain, to tuck in.

"We have done everything in the most humane way possible. We are also open to suggestions to secure the welfare of the cats but we cannot continue allowing these allegations to go unanswered," Dr Cuschieri said.