Guinevere. Photo by Ipek Bakir.
If you haven’t noticed, there are two legendary cats romping (or lounging) in the vicinity of Larrabee’s courtyard. One is an orange tabby named “Lancelot” (or just Lance if you’re not feeling fancy), and the other is a chubby gray female with a white splotch on her nose who goes by Gwen (although her full name is Guinevere).
Gwen and Lance had kittens once upon a time that now have other homes, and both have since been “fixed”—meaning they have been surgically discouraged from making more kittens appear. Jeanne Gemma, who works in the Oasis Snack Shop, mentioned that colleges have cat infestations because they tend to create large amounts of garbage which attract felines. They can quickly present a conundrum: spend time and money keeping them healthy and fed, or exert effort to drive them away and keep them away. Luckily, the Niantic Animal Hospital has offered to neuter or spay, and vaccinate the cats against diseases for a reduced cost.
The women who work in Financial Aid Services, whose office is between Larrabee and Coffee Grounds, have taken it upon themselves to care for the cats. They see the cats’ role in a very different way, as an asset rather than a nuisance. They say that the cats are an additional way to be “green” because they eliminate many disease-carrying rodents without the use of pesticides.
In addition to the Larrabee cats, there are a handful wandering around Harris and the Plex. Staff members have been trying to catch them with traps in the bushes and have succeeded in snatching two kittens and their father. But there are still two more and their mother wandering in the wild terrain of north campus. After these three cats were captured, Gemma took them back to her house where she is “domesticating” them so that she can find them homes—but she will NOT give them to students. She made this clear by repeating it several times in the span of fifteen minutes. The first question she asked me after I asked about the cats was, “Are you a student?” to which I nodded. She immediately replied, “You can’t adopt one.” Dang it. That’s all I really wanted to talk to her about.
I don’t know if these cats could really be put in a better home. They have a comfy resort right in front of Financial Aid Services, they are fed, vaccinated and even washed by Jean Russell, who works in the college’s post office. Someone built the cats a shelter that surrounds the heat steaming from the vent at the bottom of the financial aid building, so they have better heating than I do in my dorm room. They have platters of tuna or cat food awaiting them daily, people to pet them, an entire campus to explore and Lance has a tire-sniffing addiction that he can satisfy at night. These cats have it made. I want to be them when I retire. •
