The Great Walmart Cat Seige Of 2014: Cats Overrun Indiana Walmart Looking For Food, Town Divided

A Walmart in Jasper, Indiana, has been dealing with a siege of cats for years after a local woman began feeding the feral cats near the company’s parking lot. Priscilla, the cats’ longtime caretaker, has consistently fed the feral cat colony to ensure they have sufficient food. However, with 40 plus feral cats invading the Walmart parking lot, Walmart banned the woman from feeding the cats in June, noting that other unwanted pests were also finding their way to the food.

However, after a public outcry in support of Priscilla and her feeding efforts, Walmart allowed her to resume her routine feedings in early July until the company could find a way to humanely deal with the cats. According to The Herald, Priscilla brought the cats dinner every day for more than a decade. But on June 8, she was told she could no longer feed the animals. Walmart officials have said the cat food began to attract skunks and other wild animals. At least 20 cats live near the store, 17 of which have been spayed and neutered. Nonetheless, the colony seemed to be multiplying, company officials have said.

Customers are familiar with the cats, and some of them even thought they were brought there by Walmart to curb the rodent problem.

The Consumerist spoke to one customer, who said,

“I thought that they were helping WalMart with mice, maybe? I wasn’t sure,” says one customer. “I know that if you park back here, it gives them a cool place to sit. They will come out underneath your car, and when you come back out, there will be five or six of them under your vehicle.”

With Walmart upset and looking for alternative plans for the cats, the Humane Society got involved to help relocate the cats to new homes. However, this isn’t the first time a gang of cats has taken over a Walmart. A cat colony in Florida took up residence in the Garden Section of the store.

Walmart has been accused of hiring trap and kill companies to take care of their ongoing cat problems unless members of the community fight back. One woman in Florida wrote a detailed letter to Walmart executives outlining her issues with these trap and kill companies. Also, a Change.org petition got 12,000 signatures petitioning Walmart not to kill its cat colonies.

Fortunately for the Indiana Walmart cat colony, the town did not sit back and wait for Walmart to deal with the problem on its terms. Instead, with the help of the Humane Society, all of the cats but four have been relocated to a country barn where someone has agreed to care for them.

Unfortunately for Walmart, the Humane Society doesn’t think the great cat siege is over, even with the removal of the majority of the colony.

A Humane Society rep said,

“They can never be tamed. Even the little kittens, they are already feral. You would have to get a kitten at like four weeks to tame it. These guys will have to live their life in the wild. Research shows that once this colony is removed, there’s going to be more waiting to come in.”

What do you think of the cat takeover of the Indiana Walmart? Do we have another cat island in the making?

[Image Credit: CatHugger]