Suspects are charged with installing an unlawful boat dock and releasing fill material.
Authorities in southern Puerto Rico announced on Thursday that three men had been indicted as part of an ongoing federal investigation into environmental offenses perpetrated on protected terrain.
According to the U.S., two of the individuals are charged with fill material disposal into the wetlands and waters of the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in the southern town of Salinas between June 2018 and December 2023. The legal office. The men ran a resort nearby that they also rented out on a short-term basis.
A third individual was accused of constructing an unapproved boat dock and releasing fill material into the wetlands. According to authorities, he also had a guest home close by.
The indictments coincide with the growing disapproval of the illegal developments in Puerto Rico’s second largest estuary by locals. Developers, according to activists, have destroyed mangrove trees and removed a natural barrier that shields the island’s beach from hurricane surge.
Stray Cat Removal: US National Park Service to Address Feline Overpopulation at Historic Tourist Spot
Officials from Puerto Rico contend that the suggested deadline is unrealistic and sets the cats up for failure.
According to a plan presented by the U.S. on Tuesday, hundreds of stray cats that roam a historic beachfront tourist area in Puerto Rico’s capital and are regarded as both a delight and a nuisance will be eliminated over the course of the next year. Park Service of the Nation.
The government agency said that 200 cats that are thought to reside on 75 acres around a fortress at the San Juan National Historic Site that it manages in Old San Juan will be removed by hiring an animal welfare group. The park service threatened to employ a removal company if the organization didn’t get rid of the cats in six months.
Cat enthusiasts expressed dismay at the idea, but the agency pointed out that cats can spread disease to people. The park service plan said, “The removal of a potential disease vector from the park will benefit all visitors.”
Ana María Salicrup, secretary of the board of directors for Save a Gato, a nonprofit organization that takes care for the cats and hopes to be selected to carry out the plan, stated that the six-month timeline to remove them is impractical.
“Anyone who has worked with cats knows that is impossible,” Salicrup stated. “They are setting us up for failure.”
Cats of all shapes, sizes, and personalities stroll along the waterfront promenade that encircles “El Morro,” a 16th-century fortification overlooking a vast stretch of deep turquoise waters in the northwest corner of the capital of San Juan.
Some are thought to be descended from cats from the colonial era, while others were introduced to the capital in the middle of the 20th century by the fabled San Juan mayor Felisa Rincón de Gautier with the intention of killing rats. Since then, they have proliferated into the hundreds, much to the dismay of some locals and visitors and delight of others.
Every day, as residents and Save a Gato volunteers care for the cats, visitors can be seen taking pictures of them. The organization gives cats food, spays and neuters them, and then finds them homes.
The cat population had increased too much, according to federal officials about two years ago, and “encounters between visitors and cats and the smell of urine and feces are… inconsistent with the cultural landscape.”
The previous year, the U.S. As part of a plan to safeguard cultural and natural resources and enhance visitor and employee safety, the National Park Service convened a hearing. It gave two choices: either get rid of the cats or maintain the status quo.
The cats have their own statue in the historic district where they roam, and the majority of those in attendance rejected the first option, with one guy calling the cats “one of the wonders of Old San Juan.”
In an interview, solar contractor Danna Wakefield, who relocated to Puerto Rico in 2020, claimed that “these cats are unique to San Juan.” She pays the kitties a weekly visit. “Me and many other people love that walk because of the cats. Otherwise, it would be a very boring walk.”
Two of her three favorite cats are black with golden eyes, which she called “Cross.”
“He’s not going to associate with anyone,” Wakefield said.
According to a plan unveiled by the U.S. On Tuesday, existing cat feeding stations must be dismantled unless they are being temporarily employed to aid in the capture of the felines. It stated that it is against the law to feed the cats without permission since doing so draws rats and incentivizes those who want to give up their cats to do so in that location because they will be fed.
According to the agency plan, the chosen animal welfare organization will be in charge of choosing whether to adopt the captured cats, place them in foster care, keep them in a shelter, or pursue other possibilities.
Salicrup stated that Save a Gato has contacted numerous sanctuaries in the continental United States, but it is challenging to find homes for so many cats. “The response always is, ‘You cannot bring 100 cats here,’” she stated.
The National Park Service stated that if significant progress is made, the six-month deadline for trapping cats may be extended. If not, the organization would employ a removal agency and end the present plan.
