QC complex stops cat roundup after outcry

SAFE BUT STRESSED Amy (left), who was captured and placed in a sack, was released while Mariah managed to escape and hide in a plant box. Both are in the care of Cats of Araneta. —PHOTOS COURTESY OF CATS OF ARANETA

MANILA, Philippines — After reports of cats being rounded up at Araneta City on Saturday prompted a public outcry, the management of the complex admitted in a statement that at least one cat had been taken for “safekeeping,” but a volunteer group cautioned there were likely more.

“It was found that one particular cat, Amy, was taken by the security personnel for safekeeping,” Araneta City, a mixed-use area in the heart of Cubao, Quezon City, said on Facebook. “Amy has been returned unharmed. All other cats in the area were left undisturbed.”

Volunteer group Cats of Araneta, however, said at least one other cat, Mariah, was also captured on Saturday, according to witnesses.

Panic gripped animal lovers after the group relayed reports that Amy was seen being forced into a sack by security guards outside a fast-food restaurant in the complex.

Updates posted on the Cats of Araneta Facebook page said that Mariah managed to escape and was found hiding in a hanging plant box.

Security personnel, meanwhile, released Amy to a volunteer of the group who refused to leave their office without the feline.

“Araneta City has been rounding up cats for years, catching a few cats at a time and then relocating or dumping them elsewhere,” Luchie Diaz, a founder of the group, said in an interview. “The cats caught before had no witnesses so without foolproof information, we could not act.”

Cats of Araneta is composed of 18 volunteers who feed, neuter and vaccinate cats within the complex, similar to other groups that look after felines in different commercial centers.

Araneta City said in a statement that it was honoring an agreement it signed in 2019 with animal welfare group, Cara Welfare Philippines, adding it would “stay true to its commitment of being a safe place for animals.”

Reached for comment, Cara Welfare president Nancy Cu-Unjieng said the memorandum of agreement stipulated that after cats had been neutered and vaccinated, they would be returned to the complex and could not be harmed or removed.