Another Cat is Electrocuted

I wonder in reading this, if anyone would react? Would anyone really care? Would your heart feel a pinch? Would your eyes get misty? Would you imagine a lifeless body with tips of ears, paws, fried like edges of burnt bread? Would anyone just pull out a credit card and donate the cost of a cocktail? Less than $20 bucks. A Starbucks mocha latte? Less than $10 bucks? The cost of fast food hamburger or milkshake? Less than $5?

I wonder...

It is with great sadness and tears that we report that one of the sweetest, stray, black cats with stunning green eyes, Nikki, was found dead in the substation room of FPL--Florida, Power & Light in downtown Miami last week. She was four years old. Also the mother of Audrey "Tiffany" Hepburn awaiting adoption.

How did this happen? The cats seek refuge in the substation during heavy rains and when the weather starts to cool. Sure enough just when temperatures dipped in the 70's last week, Nikki found warmth in this former haven. This is NOT the first time this has happened. Years ago when another colony of cats resided there, one was electrocuted and FPL hired a trapper to capture the remaining cats which were presumably killed. Little did FPL know it doesn't solve the problem and creates a "vacuum". Hence Nikki quickly made FPL her home at that time. She filled in the empty nest.

When asking the FPL employee how to seal the room to prevent this from happening, his voice stoic and lowered, "I don't think anything can be done".  With binoculars, I viewed this death camp from my balcony. He was right. The structure has gaping open at the corners and bottom. But there is ANOTHER SOLUTION! First spay & neuter. Second, retrain cats to find refuge in roomy cat houses!
Many weeks ago, Christine had sent an email to a PR rep at the main FPL office in Miami asking for their involvement to have cats on their property spayed and neutered. She never received a response. Three emails were sent. Employees end up paying for the spaying/neutering  out of their pocket.

It's now time to escalate this issue and encourage FPL to take an active role in the community to prevent this unnecessary suffering and to stop stray cat population from growing.

FPL borders the Riverfront condos. To prevent the cats from coming in and residing inside the valet car garage where cars zoom in and zip out, we feed them on empty grass strip inbetween Riverfront condos and FPL lot, although the cats climb over and under the fence to go back and forth between the two properties. The cats are fed on the condo side but well secluded. It's actual an ideal place for stray cats--no traffic, people or dogs.



To the left is FPL lot, to the right beyond fence is Riverfront condos.
The columns support the Metrorail. This is secluded area, ideal for stray cats.
But they need a safe, dry shelter!
(Those are two black cats, Sonny and Chaz, and Lion King on right)


It has been very challenging finding a carpenter to build a cat house to say the least. After a few offers and agreed upon price, people never came through even though we offered to pay. The alternative was to buy a dog house, have it modified into a cat house but it was even harder to find someone to modify the cat house and with a truck (long story).  After the tragedy of Nikki, something had to be done. So Christine found this sturdy, large cat house, MADE IN USA, designed with two doors specifically for otudoor cats. The additional deck/porch will serve as feeding station, covered from rain. The price tag is $565 from http://www.cozycatfurniture.com/. Yes, in conducting research, the shipping alone is close to $100 because of the weight. But we are DESPERATE.



This is an all Cedar house (no insulation) built in the USA with stainless screws.
The porch/deck was additional but will serve as feeding area when it rains.
The Riverfront cat house will not come with name plate.

  We really need concerned and animal loving residents to step up and to help anyway possible! We could use a reliable handyman to assemble the cat house once we get some donations and order it. If you would like to contribute financially to this effort, you can easily pay with credit card or PayPal by clicking on the Donation button on top right. The cost is pretty steep for an effort primarily funded by two volunteers. But this tragedy required immediate action. But we still need small, wall-less cat houses to be built and placed in bushes for the other locations.  So we still need a reliable handyperson or carpenter!

If you have other ideas, please send us email to riverfrontcats@yahoo.com

Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring.