Watch: In Defence Of San Vincenz Cat Café, PN MP Says Most Animals Looked Well-Fed And Healthy
Nationalist MP Janice Chetcuti has defended the former operators of a cat café at St Vincent de Paul, who were forced out after the hospital’s management warned they were being kept in “inhumane” conditions.
Chetcuti, the PN’s spokesperson on animal welfare, said in Parliament that she visited the cat café a few weeks before last Friday’s operation and that what she saw with her own eyes didn’t tally with the warnings of St Vincent de Paul’s management.
“The first thing I noticed was that there were many, many cats,” Chetcuti said. “Many of them were in a healthy condition but yes, there were others who didn’t look healthy. However, this is because many volunteers take in cats who they find in a state of neglect and abuse, and I must understand that they take them in to give them the necessary treatment.”
She said she spotted long troughs full of food and fresh water and some clearly well-fed cats basking in the sun.
“It wouldn’t be fair to remain silent about what I saw, and I’m certainly not one to stay silent when I see abuse taking place,” she said. “I don’t know what they found on Friday but that’s what I saw two weeks ago.”
She said that while volunteers had voiced concerns that ongoing works were hindering their attempts to remove animal waste from the cat café, they managed to find a workaround.
Warning that volunteers were concerned that plans for a San Vincenz therapeutic farm could ruin the cat café, she said there should have been better communication by all involved parties.
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She called for a “serious investigation” to establish all the facts around the case and urged the government to ramp up its financial support for cat cafés and sanctuaries.
“When the government has no space to house strays, it often turns to cat cafés and sanctuaries, but it’s important it helps these volunteers out when they need it.”
Inaugurated in 2016, the cat café was originally run by Animal Guardians Malta. As of last week, it is now being run by a new team of volunteers, spearheaded by activist Ackerley Pace.
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