How Oakland Coliseum, A's plan to address takeover of feral cats

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Baseball season may be here, but on the grounds of the Oakland Coliseum, you'll find someone other than the A's players having a field day.

In recent months, the stadium complex has been taken over by about 50 to 100 feral cats.

"Our focus is just trying to help stabilize that population," said Ann Dunn, the Director of Oakland Animal Services.

Dunn says the complex has had issues with a variety of animals for years.

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One of the biggest problems is the vast amounts of food available on the site.

"The more food there is, the larger the litter the cats are going to have. So minimizing the feeding," Dunn said.

To tackle the problem, the plan is to capture the felines and then spay or neuter them before releasing them back onto the premise.

Dunn says for the kittens they encounter, the goal is to ultimately get them adopted. However, for the adults, it'll likely be a different story.

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Given that they've lived in the wild their wholes lives, Dunn says the adults aren't socialized and are not good pets.

"Our expectation from experience is that most of these cats are not going to have any interest in being around people," said Dunn.

But as for the babies, that adoption process might be easier than you think, says Henry Gardner- the Executive Director of the Coliseum Authority.

"We're even considering maybe with the kittens having some kind of adoption program," he said.

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Dunn says the whole process could take as long as six months to complete.

So for now, the game of cat and mouse continues.

"It's a complicated situation, but those cats are out there and it is their home. So being able to have them stay there is the goal," Dunn said.

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