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Loading...Archaeologists Say Cat Shelter in Rome Must Go
A cat shelter in Rome that draws tourists from all over the world faces eviction, despite the tremendous service it provides to care for the many animals who live in the streets of the eternal city. Staffed entirely by volunteers, the shelter is located underground and cares for about 150-180 cats at a time in a former storage space equipped with only the basics: cages, garbage bins, medical cabinets. Over the past twenty years, the shelter has helped to spay and neuter nearly 29,000 cats, thanks to donations from over 10,000 donors around the globe, says the New York Times.
The shelter is nestled among archaeological sites and herein lies the dispute about its future. Though the shelter has occupied the space for years, Italian state archaeologists have now decreed it must go as it is near the Area Sacra of Largo Argentina. This site contains four temples dating back to the Roman Republic (509 – 27 BCE) — that is, before the time of Julius Caesar (who was, in fact, stabbed to death not far away).
Specifically, the cat shelter sits smack above the site of the travertine podium of the 2nd century BCE Temple D. As Fedora Filippi, a Culture Ministry archaeologist, tells the New York Times, “The cat ladies are occupying one of the most important sites in Largo Argentina, and that is incompatible with the preservation of the monument.” Having a cat shelter so close to ancient sites has created the additional issue of tourists throwing food for the cats onto an adjacent archaeological site. In addition, health officials have said the shelter is an “inappropriate environment” for the volunteers, tourists and cats.
“This isn’t about the cats,” says Filippi (who notes that she herself lives with a cat), emphasizing that she is simply seeking “to protect Italy’s archaeological patrimony and to apply the law.”
But tell that to Rome’s gattare, or cat caretakers. Silvia Viviani, one of the founders of the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary association who is also a retired opera singer, tell the New York Times that “If they want war, we’ll give them war. The cats need us.” No one less than the mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, declared last week on Twitter that both he and his cat, Certosino, “are on the side of the cats of Rome. Anyone who touches them will be in trouble.”
The shelter has never been officially authorized but municipal officials have tacitly acknowledged the services its volunteers provide (that Rome’s veterinary department would be hard-pressed to carry out) and have even allowed the shelter to expand and modernize. The city of Rome is therefore doing something of an about-face in telling the shelter that, unless it moves its operations, it will soon to be evicted.
Talks between the shelter’s representatives and those for the archaeologists have gone on for two years but proved fruitless. Moving the cats is not an option; as the shelter says, its highly visible location is essential, as tourists from around the world see the cats and make donations.
It’s hard to object to preserving Italy’s archaeological heritage and certainly a site so ancient. The dispute over the cat shelter is really about bigger issues regarding the country’s cultural heritage. Certainly there are few places in Rome that do not harbor, or potentially harbor, traces of the city’s rich historical past. The cats are themselves part of the city and, indeed, “of the city’s bio-cultural patrimony,” as local legislator Monica Cirinn puts it.
One of the remarkable things about being in Rome is constantly seeing how the past and present exist side by side, from motorscooters zipping beneath the majestic ruin of the Colosseum to, yes, cats darting into the structure’s nooks and crannies. I know from taking groups of college students to Greece that the presence of life amid the ruins perks their interest: So did the splash of a frog in a pool of water in the remains of someone’s fancy house in Dion in northern Greece excite one group of students to explore.
The cats of Rome have lived for years — centuries! — among those ancient ruins. Why undo their co-existence now?
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Read more: archaeology, cat, cats, italy, rome, shelter
Photo by Andrea Schaffer
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229 comments
+ add your ownwhy?leave them in peace.it was their home for years,thank you for sharing
It should not! People should not put their own interests above the animals. Those cats need to go to a sanctuary or something.
Their ancestors lived there too
Life is still more important than ruins. I am a HUGE history buff, but I am also a lover of life, and of cats in particular. They (the cats) add character, and have always been there. These volunteers are providing quite a service for the city, and for the cats as well. Unless the people with the issue offer to pay EVERY expense for a relocation to a place of equal or greater value, they need to step back
Let them be!!!
I've been there and have seen the cats. They aren't damaging anything. Let them live there in peace!!! They are an asset to that city!
they make me sick thee peeple. they dont know what to do next to pik on.
i love cats . their my fav they aso graceful , feline and beautiful LEAVE THEM ALONE .
sad and sickening. LEAVE THEM ALONE TO BE FREE.
it would be great if they could build the cats an awesome state of the art shelter with all the amenities, instead of just the basics they currently have, and continue their great work in a better environment for all concerned and the archaeologists could have their ruins... it would be a win for all
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