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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Loews Loathes Cats


Loews Hotels feral cats community cats
Oreo lives at Loews Portofino Bay hotel
[Update June 25, 2012: Please sign the latest petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/loews-hotels-stop-trapping-harmless-cats-sending-to-kill-shelter]

[For a chronological listing of all incidents related to Loews Hotel cats, click here]

There's a storm in Orlando that started brewing on Monday and continues pelting more than heavy rain drops. It's literally raining cats and dogs but the outcome is unknown.

Loews Portofino Bay hotel and sister hotel Loews Royal Pacific, both located at Universal Studio in Orlando, Florida, are at the center of this bitter battle.

Known for its slogan "Loews Loves Pets", the once pet-friendly hotel and animal activists are at war. The Portofino and Royal Pacific had also accepted and cared for other pets. In this case feral cats. As is common throughout Florida, feral cats appear at local businesses including hotels, restaurants, any place near a food source and shelter from rain and cold. 

For years, employees followed the proven practice of TNR--Trap-Neuter-Return and reduced a large colony of cats down to manageable numbers.

Then suddenly around Christmas, a mandate was gaveled that all cats were to be removed and a pest control company, Steritech was contacted. Little did caretakers know until the traps appeared.

When Riverfront Cats' lead volunteer, Christine,  learned about this reversal of a model example of a managed cat colony, she sounded the alarm and reached out to fellow cat bloggers,  Dorian Wagner of the Catster, Tamar of I Have Cat and blogger/author Deborah Barnes of The Chronicles of Zee and Zoey. Their readers and followers responded en force and thousands of animal-loving Americans denounced Loews' decision and vowed to boycott the hotel chain.

The pounding of harsh criticism on Loews Facebook page prompted Loews to remove the traps and not take the feral cats to local shelter which means instant death. Feral cats are not adoptable. However, Loews now wants to relocate the cats which is highly risky and could cause more danger, pain, suffering and death. [Update: Loews reversed this decision and continued trapping cats and sending them to local animal shelter where they are euthanized.]


THE HISTORY
Back in 2004, Bellman, George Ricci, noticed some animal traps throughout the property of the Loews Royal Pacific. In one he found bones.  The traps had been set to capture feral cats.  Shocked that trappers would inhumanely trap an animal to let it starve and suffer a slow, lingering death, George continued searching the grounds and found other traps. Realizing the traps were indeed for cats, George took it upon himself to capture the cats and get them spayed and neutered and returned them to their environment, the only home they knew. This practice is called TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) and is encouraged by animal welfare organizations throughout the US including ASPCA, Alley Cat Allies, The Cat Network, animal behaviorists on Animal Planet programs... the list includes hundreds of organizations.

In 2007 David Bartek became the new General Manager.  Ostensibly Bartek did not support the program but let employees continue trapping and feeding cats at  their expense. And so they did. Wages of a bellman funded the entire effort at the Royal Pacific. 

Then in 2008 George Ricci transferred to the Loews Portofino and again came across another colony of cats multiplying at exponential rates. Learning what he was doing to help these homeless, harmless cats, other employees came forward to help.  What started out at 40 cats are currently down to 8 cats.  The effort was a great success! The engineering department also built custom made Italian-themed cat mansion feeding stations to compliment the Portofino Italian theme.  The houses sit far off the brick path for guests that lead to different pools.






In the small world of Universal Studio hotels, other hotel employees reached out to George and his team for help with their colony of feral cats that also was exploding with litters of kittens. George and his team realized it was time to make a formal presentation to formally implement a uniform program for neighboring hotels. They were very excited. And then everything backfired.

David Bartek had been promoted to Director of Operations in 2011 for all three hotels, the Portofino, Royal Pacific and Hard Rock hotel. Upon learning about the managed colonies, he mandated no more cats on the property.

Stunned by this edict, employees wanted to learn why? According to one source, "he never wanted to listen to facts, to proven practice, he didn't want to listen at all. His exact words were 'this issue is not open for discussion'".  Later Bartek claimed it was the decision of the landlord, Universal Studio. There is no confirmation of this statement on our part, however a recent Orlando Sentinel article did reference them.


What animal-loving customers and experts wish to share:

1. TNR/managed colonies are the best proven humane practice to reduce the number of strays in a given area. This practice is advocated by hundreds of animal welfare groups across the country.

2. If cats are removed, the vacuum effect takes place. Other stray cats will move in and multiply. What will Loews do with 50 cats next year? An unspayed/neutered cat pair leads to 5,000 cats in 7 years. Another horrifying statistic: half of all stray kittens suffer and die before age 8 weeks.  People don't see it, but it happens everyday. By removing the current colony, Loews is inviting more strays and more cats to multiply and suffer.
Removing cats from an area is a futile effort—one that cannot succeed. [Alley Cat Allies]

3. The word "feral" has many misperceptions.  Feral cats do not charge after or attack people. Mostly they are afraid of humans. Feral means they are not entirely social with humans. The degree of socialization varies. Some cats can be petted. Some can be petted and picked up in your arms. Some fear the human hand and can not be petted but will allow your hand to feed it, inches away from its face. Some will not adjust to boundaries of four walls and go stir crazy without the freedom to run and climb. 

4. The cats receive rabies vaccination when they get spayed/neutered and are ear-tipped. This means the tip of their left ear (our right when facing them) is sliced off during surgery/anasthesia as universal sign a cat is sterilized.

5. Disney has had successful TNR program for 25 years.  “We view them as partners. It’s kind of a symbiotic relationship with them". If Loews permits inhouse animals to come into contact with hotel guests, then there is no harm with feral cats on property with acres of land not visible to guests.  There has never been a single reported incident with a hotel guest and outdoor cat.

6. The cats all have names and know their names. At the Loews Portofino, there is Bonnie & Clyde, Houdini, Morris, Scruffy, Oreo, Bernie and Billie. Each has their own personality and unique traits and habits. They ARE outdoor Loews pets.



Gracie at feeding station

Loews has never answered the following questions to date:

1. What will they do next year when new strays come onto the property and multiply? There is no cat sanctuary that takes in unlimited feral cats each year. There is likely to be approximately 40-50 cats in one year.

2. What is the risk to hotel guests? According to who? What? If Loews allows other animals to come into the hotels with guests, that poses greater risk, why not allow feral cats to stay?

3. It is confirmed that two Siberian Huskey dogs (guests of the Loews Royal Pacific hotel) killed the small dog of another guest on MONDAY, January 16, 2012. Why is Loews more concerned with stray cats that have never posed any harm to employees or guests when this tragedy happens?

4. Does this signal Loews' abandonment of slogan "Loews Loves Pets" and discontinue the ability for guests to bring their pets?


On Saturday, January 14, 2012 the following article appeared in the Orlando Sentinel.


NEXT STEPS:
Loyal customers, animal-lovers, and locals continue to fight for the cats to stay. 
To follow this continuing battle, check Riverfront Cats Facebook page.

Animal activitists are encouraged to share their concerns on the Facebook of Universal Studios Florida and continue pressuring Loews on their Facebook page as well.

We hope Loews and Universal Studio will sit down and listen to experts to understand TNR is the best solution for everyone and the cats.

FOR COMPLETE HISTORY & CHRONICLES, CLICK HERE.

10 comments:

  1. As caretakers of these colonies, we thank everyone for their support. We ask Loews to closely examine the benefits of TNR; and our team is ready to accomplish this, even better than before.

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  2. i booked a trip ironically last week..then found out..im still waiting to hear that they have reversed this...or i will cancel. We go there every year with our family, but if they decide to have these cats euthanized i WILL cancel....I have up until 48 hrs. before (we are going in June) I booked it through Expedia and took out the insurance, so cancelling is not an issue for me. I work for a vet and have been doing rescue for almost 30 years...shame shame shame to say youre helping when really inhumane :-(

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  3. I am so proud of the outpouring of love and humanity for these creatures that have caused no one harm. It would be one thing if these were cats that came out of nowhere, but these are cats that have a name... they have come to feel safe and should not be part of such a cruel campaign to relocate them. This was not a wise decision by Loews, but I do pray that we can learn from this and use this situation as an example to educate the world about feral cats in a positve way.

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  4. I wish you reconsider and leave these cats alone!
    Please allow these poor creatures to live the way they ave already been accustom.

    I will reconsider visiting your hotel again should you pursue such an inhumane decision.

    For a concerned prospective customer,

    Ms. Beret And Family
    Miami,Florida

    ReplyDelete
  5. Please reconsider your decision regarding the cats.
    I will reconsider staying at your hotel should you pursue such an inhumane decision to remove the cats from your
    Property.

    From a concerned traveler,

    Ms Berreto

    ReplyDelete
  6. These innocent poor cats are causing you no harm.
    Please reconsider your decision.

    Mr & Mrs Maria Lopez and Family

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  7. Despite public support to keep the cat colony in tact, Loews has decided to continue their efforts for relocation. Even after they have been told countless times that this stance will not solve the issue.

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  8. I seriously enjoy simply reading all your blogs. Just wanted to let you know that you have people like me who appreciate your work.

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  9. I was really looking forward to checking out the new Harry Potter section at Universal. We were going to stay at the Portofino or the Royal Pacific. Although we have family in Orlando, we've stayed at the Royal Pacific before. We found the location convenient for visiting the parks. Well, not anymore!!! How can I spend money at these hotels, or their business partner Universal when that means I'd be inadvertantly sponsoring cruelty? Shame on you Bartek!

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  10. Please urge all those who have recently stayed at one of the Orlando Loews resorts and are upset by Loews actions to post reviews detailing their dismay on Trip Advisor. TA is very influential and is a determining factor in many vacationer's decisions regarding where to stay. Becoming upset by seeing cats treated inhumanely in traps is definitely a relevant travel concern and is topical in a hotel review: if you've seen something/learned something that upset you then that has put a damper on your vacation. It SHOULD be mentioned in your hotel review.

    ReplyDelete