Feline Jihad

Jersey City, New Jersey, December 19, 2007:

Police are investigating after a man wrote about launching a "feline jihad" to rid his Jersey City suburb of stray cats.

Ronatarian Party founder and leader Ron wrote a two-part series in the New Jersey Spew. The first of which was published December 17 and titled, "Madder Max: The Cat Lady and My New Dog." The second installment was published Tuesday and titled, "Feline Jihad: The Cat Lady, Part II."

In his commentary, Ron said the strays fed by a "neighborhood cat lady" have brought filth and disease to his home, and local Humane Society officials haven't been able to stop it.

As a result, he wrote, "[The cats] invade my property and my home (Cat Scratch Fever). I've officially become a trapper and it's time to take a walk to the river."

A neighbor, Jeannie Watts, said she feeds about 10 local strays and is the "cat lady" in the articles. She said Ron has set traps in his yard and posted signs in the neighborhood alluding to dead cats.

Watts also said some of the strays she normally sees have gone missing in recent weeks.

She believes the problem has more to do with a conflict with Watts about him running a [radical] campaign out of his home than about the cats.

"This is just as much about me as it is about them," she said. "He's mad at me. He disagrees with my politics, and he's taking it out on the cats."

Ron responded that he has not been trying to kill the cats and was using Humane Society traps to help get them to safe homes.

But Humane Education Society of New Jersey director Guy Bilyeu said Wednesday there was no record that Ron was in possession of any of the organization's traps.

Bilyeu said he planned to meet with Ron to discuss the issue further.

"We can't pass judgment on a written article," he said. "This could just be somebody bragging. We don't know."

Jersey City police said Wednesday that they were investigating.

Posted by Bittle at December 19, 2007 08:08 AM