A colony of feral cats are roaming around Lehigh Valley International Airport.
Over 20 cats have been seen in an area where many of the planes take off and land. To make matters worse, the cats often attract hawks and other animals that could get on the runway and interfere with planes.
“We obviously want to do everything we can to make the habitat around the airport inhospitable to these type of predators,” said Larry Krauter, the airport’s interim executive director.
Krauter doesn’t want to kill the cats unless he has no other option. A group of residents and animal lovers have volunteered to help the airport and save the cats.
One of those people is Catasauqua resident Oliver Long. Long and his wife took in two cats about a year ago and had them fixed and domesticated.
While 20 cats have been reported, Long believes that there are at least 40 that have been neutered in the past few years.
“The cat population has just gone wacky,” said Long. “They multiply unbelievably.”
Long has spent his own money to trap, relocate, and neuter dozens of stray cats in the area.
The cats kept coming back however, leaving Lehigh Valley with few non-lethal options.
The airport has put a call out for established animal rescue organizations to contact them with proposals on how to humanely get all the cats out of the area.
"Hopefully, we can find a solution here that will be in everybody's best interest," said Krauter.
