Los Gatos del Paraíso

A Brief Look at the Plight of Feral Cats in Puerto Rico 

This past week I traveled to Puerto Rico to take a break from the rat race, visit family, stick my toes in the sand, and savor the richness of local food. 

As I played tourist wandering in and out of San Juan bars, I was frequently greeted by scrawny cats looking for a quick bite or a nibble of any scraps that would keep starvation at bay. 

While my rental car sputtered through steep jungle roads on the way to my AirBnb in paradise, I was forced to pass by a kitten, freshly hit by a car and violently convulsing in the street as it died. The road was narrow, the cliff edge threatening, and it was an all-too-common sight for the drivers tailgating me. They were too desensitized to notice and stop. 

The anguish I witnessed stood in stark contrast to the beautiful backdrop of the island. As much as I wanted to help, there was no safe way for me to do so. The burn of tears on my cheeks was nothing compared to the agony that cat felt.

On an island as beautiful as it is perilous, the stray cats of paradise are forced to brave the elements, and the people, in order to survive. Although they greatly outnumber the population of satos, or street dogs, there is only one dedicated cat rescue group on the whole island, Save A Gato, which relies completely on private donations and volunteer efforts. 

It is rumored that cats were brought to Puerto Rico by early Spanish colonizers in order to control the increasing rat population. Stroll around the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan and you’ll see dozens of cats sprawled out lazily under parked cars, taking cool siestas in the shade.

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island, causing nearly 3,000 deaths, forcing over 100,000 Puerto Ricans to evacuate, and destroying tens of thousands of homes. Because of this, many pets were abandoned and left to breed incessantly.

The overpopulation of cats in Puerto Rico is heavily attributed to the lack of sterilization of pets. The predominant reason why so many animals are left intact or abandoned is the scarcity of veterinary services and the prohibitive costs of pet healthcare. Locals on the island struggle to survive, particularly in the aftermath of Maria, with almost half of the population living below the poverty line. How can they possibly prioritize pet care while still unable to recover from devastating storms? 

There are only a handful of animal rescue groups on the island, mostly focused on caring for and adopting satos, and many of them rely on private donations due to the lack of government funding. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the problem as people lost their jobs, forcing them to relinquish their pets, and previous benefactors became unable to donate to the rescue organizations. 

The cats are somewhat of a tourist attraction, and are even featured in a coffee table book. As I meandered around Old San Juan, I was approached by a feral cat that had a clipped ear- an indicator of the trap-neuter/spay-return (TNR) program carried out by Save a Gato.

Thanks to Save A Gato’s efforts, the population of stray cats in the San Juan area has been drastically reduced and given necessary vaccinations. But with estimates of a million feral cats across the island of Puerto Rico, there is still an overwhelming amount of work to be done both in and out of San Juan. 

I am just one of many to write about the feral cats roaming the streets of Puerto Rico, especially in San Juan. Yet I still hope to bring awareness and encourage support for them. Like the people of Puerto Rico, these gatos are beautiful, resilient, and continue to beat the odds.