A herd of cats mingle in the early morning shade of the kiawe forest, some rubbing against the gray trunks others perch on curved limbs licking their paws, sweeping them wet across checkered faces, glancing occasionally with feline non-chalance down the trail where Norman Fojtasek pulls a cart with food and water.
The stray cats of Mahukona Park, 100 of them by Fojtasek’s estimate, have friends. For eleven years advoCATS Inc. with a volunteer staff has organized daily feedings for the feral cats of the Kona Coast.
“As of the end of last year we’ve documented 9,574 cats in our region,” Cathy Swedelius said, President of advoCATS in Kona.
In addition to the feedings, regular workshops featuring volunteer veterinarians provide additional feline services that include spay and neutering, vaccinations, ear cleaning for mites, lotions, flea treatments and de-worming.
“We can do 80-150 cats in a one day workshop,” Swedelius said.
Fojtasek has been volunteering with advoCATS for two years. He moved to the Big Island in 1989 from Dallas Texas. At 69, he’s frisky and attributes his good health to a lifetime of Judo and a “handful of supplements” he takes every morning. He’s been involved with a number of local organizations but seems content with advoCATS.
“I was part of the Sovereign Movement, but they’re too disorganized,” he said, filling a stainless cat bowl with Meow Mix. “Now I just donate to the cats.”
He pulls the cart across a rocky trail.
“See that one?” He points to a calico. “She got dropped off about a week ago. I was going to give her to a friend but she went wild fast. It doesn’t take long for them to go feral and once they’re wild it’s hard to get it out of them.”
Most of the cats at Mahukona, according to Fojtasek, have been dropped off.
“Seems to be more of that here lately,” Fojtasek said. “People can’t afford’em.”
Across the way and higher on the hill Janet Mattos un-straps a jug of water from her cart. She’s been feeding the cats for 7 years.
“They all have names,” she said. “There’s Boots – he’s an old timer.” Boots lifts his chin up then looks out toward the ocean.
But not everyone is for feeding the feral cats at the park.
“I had a guy follow me around last year as I was feeding,” Fojtasek said. “Kept asking me ‘why’ and telling me ‘there are too many cats already’ – finally I told him he’s fat and needs to be more concerned about his weight problem.”
Linus, a grower from Humboldt who comes to Hawaii every winter, sits at a picnic table and watches for whales as the pounding surf sprays in the foreground.
“All these cats are disgusting,” he said. “I’m going to start a petition. There’s too many of them. The place reeks of cat urine – you should be here when the wind isn’t blowing. Flies like you wouldn’t believe. Cat fights all night long. Hell, a fellow can hardly get any sleep around here. This use to be a great park but now it’s a xz!xzx!z?! zoo.”
Linus takes a breath and leans back. “I watch these guys come in every morning and feed them. I say shoot the cats and throw them in the sea.”
A thin white cat stares from the black rip rap along the shore, then turns, jumps across the rocks and disappears into the Kiawe forest.
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