Every pet owner’s worst nightmare is that their beloved furry friend will somehow be taken from them. For Astoria cat lovers, the threat is all too real.
In the past eight months, some 80 cats have vanished without a trace from the Queens neighborhood. Now, pet owners who once let their cats play in their backyards are keeping their kitties inside and under close watch.
“It makes me really nervous,” says Jamie Wiebe, 25, whose 2-year-old black-and-white tuxedo cat, Maeby, has a history of sneaking out of her apartment.
While many of the missing cats have been strays, pets have also gone mysteriously missing. “We have a number of people that reported they had an indoor cat that was allowed to roam free and that cat disappeared,” says Mary Witty, an NYU administrator and the cat lady behind “Astoria7” (astoria7.org), a group dedicated to tracking disappearances. She cared for eight alley cats before they vanished in December. She managed to save the very last one, Little Blackie, and is now keeping her as an indoor cat.
Meanwhile, Christine Acosta, a 22-year-old who works at Pets on the Run, a neighborhood pet store, has been keeping a close eye on Max, the 3-year-old orange tabby that calls the store home but is allowed to roam outside. “I don’t want anybody taking him,” she says.
While it’s not uncommon for free-range felines to skip town for a spell, these cats aren’t returning and something more nefarious seems to be happening.
“Cats sometimes go missing for a few days, but usually come back,” says Evon Handras, director of administration and liaison for the NYC Feral Cat Initiative. Stranger still: There are no cat bodies to be found.
Mysterious disappearances aside, Dr. Michael Farber of West Chelsea Veterinary says pet cats should always be kept inside. “It’s dangerous,” he says. “I worry about them getting hit by cars, getting into fights with other cats, not to mention bite wounds and being chased by dogs.”
The NYPD has had officers investigating the disappearances but didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story.
Dr. Farber says that “seems a little far-fetched” and notes that research facilities typically have breeding colonies for animals they use.
Still, Witty has installed security cameras around her home to deter any potential cat-snatchers.
Wiebe hasn’t gone that far, but is keeping her cat securely indoors. “I don’t want Maeby wandering around or being stolen,” she says. “That terrifies me.”