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Activists accuse Brentwood school officials of 'entombing' feral cats
Contra Costa Times, March 12, 2015
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Activists accuse Brentwood school officials of 'entombing' feral cats
By Nate Gartrell ngartrell@bayareanewsgroup.com
POSTED: 03/12/2015 06:55:57 AM PDT
BRENTWOOD -- A typically-quiet Liberty school board meeting became the scene of controversy Wednesday evening when animal rights activists -- some holding signs -- accused district officials of entombing feral cats to die in certain school buildings.
District officials have denied those claims and countered that animal activists have been trespassing on school grounds and illegally removing screens intended to keep animals out of the areas beneath school portable buildings. The activists say they removed the screens to prevent cats that were stuck inside from starving, and they have asked the district to install one-way doors to allow trapped animals to escape.
A group of feral cats hang around downtown Antioch on May 6, 2013. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The district has had a well-documented feral cat problem at some of its sites for years, and many ferals have taken refuge under the district's portables that have gaps beneath them large enough for small animals to climb through. In an effort to curb that problem, district officials have begun sealing those gaps and, according to animal activists, inadvertently trapping cats inside.
"How could (students) possibly think about quadratic equations when a cat beneath them is struggling to survive," said Stephanie Buzzard of No-Kill for Contra Costa County, one of six activists who spoke.
Another speaker, Julie Rasmussen, showed photos of cats sitting behind screens located beneath district mobile units, and said that those cats had been "entombed."
Following standard protocol for public comment periods, district officials did not respond to the six animal activists who spoke Wednesday out of a group of about 20 who showed up. But earlier in the day, district Assistant Superintendent Adam Clark said that officials began sealing the buildings after learning of a bad flea problem at one of their sites.
"These were our students with severe learning disabilities at adult education, and we had to shut the classes down and displace those students because they were being attacked by fleas," Clark said, noting it was the district's final straw. But he added that officials were taking steps to ensure cats were not being trapped.
He also said some activists had been taking things too far, and that officials have explicitly forbidden anyone from setting up feral feeding stations on school grounds. Animal activists agree that they do not want cats to live near school buildings, but they are hopeful the district will allow them to feed ferals on campuses, but away from people.
Clark said the district has begun installing one-way doors, but activists have complained that those doors are made of heavy, opaque wood, and have suggested lighter, transparent plastic doors as an alternative.
Contact Nate Gartrell at 925-779-7174 or follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/NateGartrell.
