Controversial Cat Feeding Station in Estate Bethany Is Destroyed

The feeding station in Estate Bethany usually looked similar to the one above, until a volunteer discovered it in pieces, below, last week.

 

The public debate — discussed in several Letters to the Editor printed in the St. John Tradewinds — over the St. John Animal Care Center’s cat feeding stations took a destructive turn last week.

In a Letter to the Editor in early September, Estate Bethany resident Patty Mahoney first detailed the problems she saw with the ACC’s feral cat feeding station in her neighborhood. Mahoney wrote a second letter later that month, which was also printed in a St. Thomas daily newspaper, urging government officials to stop funding the St. John ACC.

Mahoney’s letters prompted several ACC supporters to take pen in hand to urge Mahoney to stop her assault against the non-profit animal welfare organization and inviting her to attend the group’s next board meeting.

While Mahoney did not attend the group’s meeting last month, controversy over the ACC feeding stations seemed to quiet down, at least until last week.

ACC board member Oriel Smith oversees the feeding station in Estate Bethany, which was the focus of Mahoney’s complaint. Smith routinely leaves food at the station every other day and when he left food there on Monday afternoon, October 24, all was in order.

Smith returned to the station on Wednesday evening, October 26, to find the feeding station completely dismantled.

“Somebody destroyed the feeding station,” said Smith. “Somebody completely demolished it and broke it all up.”

While Smith has continued to feed the feral cats in the Estate Bethany area, he and the ACC are hoping that someone in the neighborhood saw something. Anyone with information about the demolished feeding station is asked to call the ACC at 774-1625.