By Katie Drake
The Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY — A colony of feral cats has been triggering false alarms by crossing over the fence at the Utah State Prison in Draper, prompting prison officials to ask the cats’ caregivers to find them a new home.
The cats have been there for about 10 years, longer than some inmates, said Daye Abbott, feral fix coordinator for No More Homeless Pets in Utah. Inmates brought the colony to the attention of prison staff, a few of whom adopted the colony.
These volunteers have been feeding the cats and providing makeshift shelters for them, and occasionally trapping cats to be neutered, as part of the Trap, Neuter and Return program favored by No More Homeless Pets.
The colony has been a poster kitty for the program, Abbott said, dwindling from more than 200 cats to about two dozen today.
Still, even a few cats can cause headaches for Department of Corrections staff, said spokesman Steve Gehrke. The cats often travel beyond their territory on the prison’s west side and climb under or over prison fences, setting off sensitive alarm equipment.
That equipment does not distinguish between a playful cat and an escaping inmate.
“You can imagine that any time those security devices are triggered, our staff needs to go investigate it,” Gehrke said.
Each incident must be treated as an escape, requiring armed guards and search lights, drawing the staff’s attention away from other areas of the prison, leaving the prison vulnerable. The cats also urinate and defecate on or near the ventilation system, creating a health hazard, Gehrke said.
To fix the problem, the cats will be moved to new homes later this month, Abbot said, though she declined to say where. The move may be slightly traumatic for the animals, but Abbott believes they will eventually adjust to their new homes.
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