Do the feral cats of Coors Field need some help?

The feral cats that occasionally come onto the playing field of the baseball team Colorado Rockies, Coors Field, have called LoDo home for ages. ‘LoDo’ is short for the city of Denver’s ‘Lower Downtown’ district which encompasses Coors Field. The address for the baseball stadium is 2001 Blake Street. These feral cats have become slightly famous or infamous depending on your point of view. The presence of the colony was highlighted recently when a particularly handsome, medium-longhaired fellow burst onto the pitch during a game which he stopped.

I think the spectators and the players generally quite liked the spectacle. A nice diversion from the game. A couple of concerned female umpires (is that the right word?) chased after the cat as he got to the high wall surrounding the field, grabbed him and carted him off to the outside. A very efficient cat rescue. I felt sorry for the cat and the lady if she copped a scratch. But the cat was not truly feral. I suspect he was quite domesticated in fact.

Barbara Ford has worked at Coors field since the late 1980s according to the Denver Post. She is very aware of the feral colony. She said that she had cared for some of them near 20th and Larimer regularly. She said there are ‘dozens and dozens of them’.

She wonders if someone is caring for them now. The Denver Post journalist, Elizabeth Hernandez, rang around to find out if someone was indeed caring for them under a TNR programme. TNR is quite common in the US and managed by excellent and committed volunteers. She was unable to find the info she sought but there is interest in caring for them.

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Another concerned person, Jenni Leigh, a TNR advocate, couldn’t find anyone who was involved in managing the colony. She reached out to the Colorado Rockies management to see if they’d allow her to get involved in managing the colony. She’s waiting for a response. She was inspired to take action when watching the video published on Twitter of this poor, exhausted cat running across the playing field.

The cat pauses for a rest and pants. He must have been hot. Cats also pant to cool down when they are frightened. Their anxiety causes them to overheat. There is no doubt that this cat was scared.

Leigh said that cat ladies are watching the Coors Field feral cats. It is time to take care of them; to manage them and gradually reduce their numbers.

They are kind of cute but they need help. Leigh’s Twitter page has become more popular since she posted about them indicating an interest in their welfare.

The only way to deal with them is through TNR. And the sooner the better because there will be someone who wants to do something cruel a some stage in the future.

P.S. Denver city administration have demonstrated a concern for cats by banning declawing. Nice. Perhaps Denver is a city of cat lovers which explains the apparent sensitivity towards the cat in the video.

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